Something Original, Something New
by Whimsical Acumen
Summary: Kairi of Christmas and Sora of Halloween, what happens when the two meet in unwanted events? Why are Santa and Jack Skellington so resentful of their meetings? And who is it that is out for revenge? AU
1. Kairi Claus

"Ew! Get rid of it!" Selphie's screams were heard throughout all of Christmas Town as she stood on a rocking horse that she had just finished putting together. She held the horse's mane in a tight grip, not seeming to grasp the fact that she wasn't actually high enough to put some distance between herself and the "terrifying" thing. The rocking horse was meant for a three year old.

An auburn haired girl bent down lazily and lifted the poor snake that was being tormented by the girl's silly wails. It wrapped around her slender arm and almost seemed to purr where it rested. She raised an unimpressed brow at her friend, almost as if contemplating why on Earth she was friends with her.

"You're scaring the poor thing! Why is it you're about a hundred times its size and _you're_ the one screaming?" She placed her unoccupied arm on her hip, giving her the "you should be ashamed of yourself!" look. Her pearl necklace seemed to twirl as she adjusted her position so that her red mini dress that barely reached her finger tips hastened itself up her leg. It was a rather tight fit, with an easy to move around in skirt with a white furred hem. Her dress held itself up by a halter which connected to a white, faux furred hood.

Selphie wrinkled her nose, not loosening her grip. "It's scaly and slimy and gross! Get it away!" Her own red and white striped jumper bunched up at her waist, revealing panties that weren't meant to be seen.

Kairi rolled her sapphire eyes and pulled her friend up onto her feet. "What do you expect? It's a cold blooded animal, it makes sense it would be looking for warmth! And besides--snakes aren't slimy at all! Here, touch it, I'll show you …" She gestured to her arm.

"Ew! No! No! No! No! No! Keep it _away_, you hear? I don't want it near me, much less _touch_ it!" She stepped away from Kairi, grasping her white jump rope that she wore as a belt. "Let's kill it." She whispered, wide eyed. Kairi held the snake closer to herself.

"It hasn't done anything wrong!" She looked at its tiny face, staring into yellow eyes. She smiled. "Let's keep it." She stroked its head and it seemed to calm down a bit, uncoiling slightly.

"No! I sometimes share a room with you, remember? I don't want that-that _thing_ killing me in the dead of night …!" She shuddered at the mental image. "It could be poisonous!" She added in a hushed whisper. Kairi did a double take on the tiny snake which had taken rest on her arm, having taken a liking to her. She cocked her head to the side, debating on something.

"Well, we could always look it up, right? Besides, it isn't impossible to have a snake's venom taken from its fangs." She met Selphie's eyes. The brunette squirmed in her place.

"Oh, all right … You're too nice, you know that?" Kairi squealed and nuzzled the snake on her arm. She then hugged her friend (who was squirming to get away from the reptile). She broke away. "But how is it going to survive here, anyways?" Selphie gestured to a window which was covered with a sheet of ice. "Like you said earlier, _cold blooded_, not the ideal place, don't cha think?" Kairi smiled.

"I'll keep it with me, I'm sure my co-workers won't mind it." She cuddled the snake again. It slithered up her arm so that its head rested on her shoulder. She pulled her hood up and nudged the snake inside of it. A little head leaning on the side of her cheek was sticking its tongue out, sensing the new area. Selphie shuddered, and picked up a hammer that she had dropped earlier from all of the excitement. She sat on a low, wooden stool and started hammering at one of the looser nails. Kairi stood where she was blankly. Selphie stopped after a moment, sighed and looked up at her.

"Just go and find out how you're going to feed the thing, ok?" Kairi nodded and scampered away, passing others who were working on other trinkets that were meant to be given to good little boys and girls. The workers were hammering away for a certain Saint Nicholas (less formally known as Santa Claus) who makes his way around the world with flying reindeer who help him deliver presents. No, this little red head does not happen to be one of "Santa's Little Helpers" other wise known as elves, but something that is of more significant value than that.

Her red clogs that curved toward her legs held little silver bells that chimed with each step she took as she dashed into the reserved room. She happened to be Santa's daughter. No, no, she's not _that_ old. The original Santa Claus had been dead for quite some time now. Her father wasn't even the next actual Santa, yet, he still had some years (and pounds) to gain before he had that luxury. Her grandfather is the eighth Santa Claus of their time and she is to be the next Mrs. Claus. Normally she'd be married off to some other family who is extraordinarily good, but her mother who, as sweet of a person as she is, from having such a tiny body is unable to conceive another child. Such a predicament has now been laid on Kairi's shoulders.

She is what one would assume to be "the perfect child". Her birth was predicted to the second, introducing a quiet, pink-cheeked baby into the world. She had grown into a curious, playful girl who had the special magnetic force that attracted others to join in on her little adventures. The only subjects that could deter her from her shenanigans were her studies and cooking.

The High Elves who oversaw the workers, as well as the legal affairs of the Clauses were still debating on Kairi's future role: if an outside man should be Mister Clause, or if she should take on the role herself, or if her generation should just be skipped, and any sons of hers will become Saint Nick XI. Because of her unsure future, she was being given a new sort of training that combined the roles of Santa Clause and Misses Clause. She did not overly mind too much (she considered herself much more rounded than her previous generations), but found that too much thought was going into the whole procedure. Who cared if Santa was male or female?

Would it be too sacrilegious for her to travel across the world?

Kairi pranced into the main hallway where a domed room with glass paintings for a ceiling was present. The floor was a smooth, golden marble with an oak, winding staircase that was situated in the middle of the room. She glided up the stairs, giggling and holding the hem of her skirt. She slowed to a walking pace, saving her energy for the rest of the flight of the stairs she'd have to climb. She huffed a little, then reassuringly petted the snake which adorned her furred hood. Her slender hand held the railing firmly as she slowed her pace more and more, having little physical energy. She was halfway up the stairs. "When I'm Mrs. Claus, I'm installing elevators."

No, she didn't mean it. Elevators were tacky in her opinion when one could easily walk. And these stairs, despite how new they appeared, were an important part of her family. It's where the original Saint Nicholas fell in love with the original Mrs. Claus and it is also where all weddings of the Clauses has been held since then. It was tradition and as much as she didn't want to walk up the entire flight of stairs (it only has a lead to the top floor of the five stories) in a wedding dress she can hardly move in, but tradition was tradition and there were plenty of other things to look forward to.

She licked her lips almost remembering the taste of the batter she got to lick along with her cousins for the wedding of her Aunt. It was absolutely huge and it was tradition of all women except for the new Mrs. Claus to help bake the five foot cake. She wanted her cake to be marble, since she couldn't decide which flavor she preferred; chocolate or vanilla. Her Aunt's had been golden, she liked it, of course, she loved nearly all sweets, but hers would be the first with _two _flavors. Then she'd be able to please two different taste buds.

Once she reached the top of the stairs, Kairi bolted to her bedroom; the third room down the line, grinning at the floating letters that spelled out her name in bubbles. It was a spell that the High Elves had put up for her for her eighth birthday. The High Elves were elves that were adorned with magic when they were born, having their own burden of making sure Christmas goes just like it's supposed to. Selphie was actually training to be a High Elf and was going to be her flower girl; because only High Elves can be flower girls. It was tradition. She poked the dots in her "i's" that helped spell out her name. They stayed gone for a minute, then popped back just as if she had never touched them. She giggled again, entering her room with glee after taking off her shoes.

Her room was mainly white, a sheep skin rug stretched across the room (faux, every fur she owned was faux). Her bed had a lavender bug net that fell from the head of the Queen-sized bed. The sheets and pillows were white with a dark plum colored blanket. Her tan desk held a lap top and mouse with a chair that she was frequently found spinning in. A bright lava lamp that was currently off hung low, over her desk. Her room also took a dome shape, having watched Aladdin, she modeled her room after the princess in the movie. Her magicked closet doors appeared to be ones that led to an outside balcony. It led to a walk-in closet.

She strolled over to her computer, spinning once in her chair before turning her laptop on. Her snake seemed to know that it was safe to come out, for it slithered out from her hood and used her arm as a bridge to come to the computer that was quickly beginning to radiate heat. She giggled to herself and cooed at the snakes antics which she found adorable. She quickly found exactly what it was that she was looking for.

_Pueblan Milksnake, huh?_ She stared at the critter who was striped with red, black and white. She smiled. _Just like a candy cane!_ She scrolled down on information on it, wrinkling her nose at the little tidbit that snakes tend to pee on themselves (_maybe I can ask a High Elf to train her…)_, finding them easy to care for until she came to one not so minor factor: food.

No, she wasn't stupid, she knew that snakes happened to eat each other as well as rodents, but it never actually dawned on her that she would have to go out of her way to find a critter for the snake to eat. She glanced at the snake who seemed to have dozed off with a hint of doubt. She looked away. No, she happened to like the snake, she was going to have to find some of the animals herself! She bit her lip. There was no way anyone, not even a High Elf would be willing to get poor mice for it to eat! They had done nothing wrong … But the snake would need to survive, the poor thing …

She moaned loudly. She'd have to go and find some pre-killed mice herself, perhaps from an already fat owl? Snakes can go a while without a new meal anyways, not like it would be a big deal for her. Tomorrow she had some free time, that would be when she would go out and find some rodents to feed to it, but first. She picked up the snake.

She was going to take her new snake to a High Elf for some magical behavior training on how not to pee on one self (or others) and other things.


	2. This is Halloween

**Hello, this is Absh (who else?) and I'd like to thank you all for reading this story of mine that I am starting on. How I came across the idea was semi random, but either way I'm enjoying the task of writing it, and I hope all of you will continue reading it. The thought of coming up with it was that I was slightly bored by many of the repeated story lines these days and I wanted to do something new. Having gotten into a bit of a Kingdom Hearts fest at the moment, it was in this category that I wanted to contribute to. I have a growing fondness of Sora in Halloween Town form and wanted to do something there. Being a fan of the KairixSora shipping, I wondered to myself just what would Kairi be? I've seen many ideas of just what she would be, some more practical and common than others. It then occurred to me; "what would Kairi be, since she's a princess of heart, wouldn't she be something more happy, like from Christmas Town?" It was then that I was hit by this idea and thus this story has been thought up and planned out.**

**I'm sure some of you may not be interested, but I wanted to get my thoughts across before this new chapter was read, so please enjoy.**

From further inspection from one of her favorite High Elves (and Selphie's mentor), not only was the snake in good condition, except for lack of food, the snake was apparently male. The High Elf who had discovered this, Aerith, was a beautiful brunette and was the only being with a human figure that could pull of the "big bow" look. Aerith was rather quiet and kind, having a calm nature and a soft voice. It had not taken long for the elf to have it melded into the snake's head not only when and where the proper time is to "go", but other etiquettes as well. Aerith never specified what she did to the reptile, but Kairi trusted her enough to know her intentions were good.

Kairi bit her lip, half wishing she had asked Aerith for help with the rodent snatching as she trudged in the snow with her snake wrapped around her neck. She had managed to leave her tutoring lessons soon enough for her to grab several chocolate chip muffins, which she carried in a denim messenger bag. She really wasn't looking forward to this plan of hers, having not thoroughly thought it out, because she had never been this far out from the town before.

She turned to face Christmas Town, placing her hand on the welcome sign that was foreign to her. She studied the lights that flickered over yellow buildings. Snow was lighter in this area, something she and her heavy steps were not used to. She liked to stay where other people were, being a social person, and was planning on going here with Selphie or maybe Tidus, Wakka or Olette. All of them were busy, and even then, only half of them would even have a slight interest in taking lives from little mice.

She breathed, watching her breath appear and disappear from sight. She trudged along in the snow, more so watching her feet and the foot prints they made instead of looking out for just what it was she was looking for. Kairi adjusted her hood so it covered more of her head as she walked, staring up at the trees around and how the stood high above. The pine needles had clumps of snow on many of the higher branches and shrunk on those that were lower. Old names like "Fred & Maria" sketched in a heart were common as she eyed her surroundings. Sadly, no animals seemed to be about except for a single white rabbit and a fox, none of which that met the criteria.

She soon however forgot about the snake which had itself perched on her neck and her mission she has yet to accomplish and even every tradition that had seeped its way into her family. She spun where she was in the snow, keeping her focus above herself where blurs of grey-blue, green and white resided. The sun wasn't out but she didn't care. She found herself giddy once more, now giggling in hysterics for no reason except that she suddenly felt care free. She bounced where she was, actually skipping into the thicker parts of the woods. She found the tune of Jingle Bells and other Christmas carols seeping their way through her throat and seemed to bounce back to her.

She stopped, however, when a clearing came and a circle of trees that were lined too well together stood tall and did not sway in the wind like the other trees. Kairi squinted her eyes, confused for a moment as to whether or not her eyes were playing tricks on her. She stepped forward tentatively, having a sudden feeling that she should be near there. Kairi continued walking until she was right next to one of the trees closest to her. She touched it, then pulled away, a feeling of rejection almost seeped through her. She circled the tree so she actually entered the clearing herself to find a strange imprint of a turkey carved in the tree.

She blinked. "Why a turkey?"

She looked away to notice that all of the trees in the clearing had some sort of mark on it, each with a rather random symbol. She walked toward the tree with the imprint of a heart with a small smile. "How cute …" She paid no heed to the tree with a decorated egg, having no interest. She did, however, stop at one tree that had a _pumpkin_ on it of all things. "A…pumpkin?" She traced her thin fingers over the shape, almost smelling the scent of pumpkin pie and feeling its smooth skin. She scowled, trying to make the face that seemed to be carved into it. She ran her fingers on the outside edges of the strange pumpkin to find that it actually popped out a bit, as if it were a window…

She then used both hands to actually pull the pumpkin off; she wanted to show her dad this strange thing. Finding it wouldn't budge, she tried peeling it instead. To her shock, it actually opened with a high pitched creak that reminded her of someone scratching a chalkboard. It fully opened, as if it were a door and instead of revealing a hollow trunk with perhaps a baby owl, it showed nothing but darkness. She tilted her head, confused, then reached her hand out. Kairi then fully put her hand into the trunk as if to feel around. A breeze of air that was slightly warmer than she was used to seemed to come from within the tree and smack her in the face. She retracted her hand quickly. Confused about this sudden feeling that was new to her.

Her heart was hammering and her eyes were wide so that she could feel the air hitting against her eyes. Her throat clammed up and a squelching feeling lay in her stomach. She didn't like the feeling. She didn't like that she didn't like something either because she didn't like to dislike things without cause and her only reason was opening a hollow tree. She leaned forward, wanting to see inspect the ill feeling further.

A wind seemed to blow her into the tree! She screamed as she flipped over and fell into the darkness where ghosts suddenly appeared from no where, cackling to themselves. She reached for the snake she had yet to name and shut her eyes tight. The feeling came over her again, this time it seemed to rise up her stomach and into her throat. The ghosts continued to circle her, until, cackling they floated away and it was then she noticed she was sprawled on the ground.

She opened her eyes to a new setting. For one, the weird trees were no where in sight and were instead replaced by trees that were dead and looked ready to fall any second from the weight of the snow. The sun was out in this area, with grey clouds huddling around the yellow orb. The snow was much dirtier than where she had just been and in front of her was a graveyard. She shuddered, suddenly finding that stroking the snake to be very comforting.

She stood up, shuddering, realizing just how cold the snow was for the first time and dusted herself off while she put the snake back in her hood. Its coiling on the back of her neck seemed to calm her somehow. Kairi tightly held on to the furred hood that smelled of home, almost as if to tune out the rather frightening feeling that seemed to almost overwhelm her in this strange place. Her eyes widened in realization. _Fright_! Of course! That is the feeling that is plaguing her mind as she creeps into the graveyard. She hunched over, if not to keep calm then to stay hidden. Who knew what sort of creatures lurked in the area…

She attempted to lighten her steps in the silence that would be broken by her tiny little bells that tinkled each time her feet moved. She lifted her foot, then stopped quickly, cursing whoever it was that created the darn things! She stood there, looking foolish with her foot raised, and arms now spread out as if she expected the wind to suddenly carry her away to take flight. She cringed as she lowered her foot as the bell jingled again, as if mocking her. Perhaps she could rip them off and leave them there, then it would be easier to hide. She stomped her foot, crushing some leaves that were hidden under the snow that no one bothered to pick up.

But what was she hiding from anyways? She looked around, seeming to notice that absolutely _no one_ was there. There was _no one_ to run from and _no one _to run to. She was completely alone.

She shivered. Being alone seemed to creep her out. She turned back toward where she had come from. "Maybe I should look for a way back…" Her voice seemed to carry itself in the air, just hanging since there is little breeze. She bit her lip. "What time is it anyways?" She decided she preferred having her voice out in the open than no sound whatsoever. The sun was definitely lower, perhaps in a few hours sunset would come.

She then decided that her thick socks would be able to handle the extremely light blanket of snow that seemed to end where she stood as she took off her annoying shoes, almost enjoying the sensation of feeling the soft, Earth below her. Almost.

Kairi could feel her reptile slithering around in the back of her hood. Her eyes widened as she began walking on the hollow ground. Staring at the ground which all appeared recently turned over, she realized she had yet to name her new pet. Random names flickered in her mind while she tried to stay focused on the more important situation at hand.

She continued walking, eyeing the scenery with confusion. It really _did_ look like everything had just recently been dug up. The dirt was fresh (in a matter of speaking) and lightly packed on the ground. The graves appeared to be shallow-dug, which wasn't the most proper thing to do from what she knew about burying the deceased. Many of the graves were turned over or lazily put in and none of the flowers were neatly placed on the graves, but were strewn about as if accidentally moved. The flowers were dead, too. She wrinkled her nose. Ok, maybe somebody was around here, and they certainly don't know how to treat the bodies of the departed!

Kairi reached in the inside of her hood, gliding a loving finger over her snake for her own comfort. Right, a name … She felt a little bad that she was walking around in a graveyard instead of figuring out a name for her new snake. "But it's not like I can think of anything right now." She muttered in her defense. She blinked, realizing she was defending herself against no one. "Last time I go anywhere without someone else around …" Kairi vowed.

She scurried toward a tall oak tree. Its arms spread out wide, almost menacingly and its skin was rough. She reached up and hoisted herself up on a low branch and easily climbed up to a perch where the branch parted into three so that she had full support from behind, leaning on the middle branch. From the new height she had just reached, she was able to see a rather morbid looking town. More so, it appeared to be a ghost town since the windows of the buildings had crooked shutters from what she could see and there wasn't a single light out and it was sunset! Usually people begin to turn their lights on by this point so they can see.

She sighed, and put more weight on the sturdy branch that supported her back. How did she get there anyways? What was this place? A land for the depressed? Had everyone died off from some sort of depression? That would make sense, she decided. "Too bad, this area could have some serious potential for a picnic gathering." She said out loud. She smiled, her snake, whom she had yet to name slithered from her hood and into her lap as she watched the sun continue to fall from the sky. The reptile wrapped itself around her leg, getting itself comfortable. She studied with heavy eyes the bright orange and husky yellow that were outlined by green and light blue with shades of pink in the many clouds. Kairi debated on whether or not she should stay for the sun to fully set or to go looking for a way back.

Frankly, she didn't have a chance to change her mind. A low humming suddenly grew as half the sun was buried from sight. A low, strangled sound came from a far away rooster which was strange since it was the sun setting not rising. Then it began. Lights in the otherwise dead town sparked with a sudden jolt, orange lights filled the areas and music that was both haunted and cheerful at the same time seemed to rise. Then the people came out.

Windows flew open and doors were thrown away as people in rags of dark clothing with grins on their faces made their way through the streets. Some of them flew, seeming to have wings and able to fly stretched their wings to their full span then flew off to which ever way they were supposed to. Creatures of all sorts, many with fur covered their entire bodies, others as ugly as can be, one appeared to be some sort of slime monster. She stared in horror.

"What_ are_ those things?" She breathed. She held back a scream as she then found out why the graveyard was in such poor condition. The Earth trembled as the undead with rotting eyes and skinless patches that covered them started to push the dirt aside and awake within their coffins. Ghosts shrieked with glee and glided past her without a second glance, not seeming to notice. Those without heads connected to their necks chatted as the continued on their way to town, opening the large iron gates to join in the madness. One strewn head rolled along the dirt, yelling at its comrades for not connecting it to its body that was walking in the opposite direction of the crowd. Kairi found herself wishing she had left earlier.

A large chiming and then a gong from nowhere rang and the lights from a crooked, musky castle seemed to glow, and the lights from within seemed to turn on all at once. The one tower that seemed to tilt with age and made the castle reach its height had its large windows open and led one very tall figure on to a small balcony. A very pale figure was cloaked in a suit with a long tale spread his arms wide as if gesturing to the entire city.

The town all stopped whatever it was that they were doing and turned to look up and face him. The skeleton seemed to smiling, but without skin, it appeared eerie. Kairi gripped the snake, a rush of fear even greater than before filling her as her eyes fell upon the man.

"Citizens," his voice seemed very human for a skeleton, almost calming compared to his looks. "Over the past few years we have debated on my retirement. I have been in charge of decorations and celebrations for over sixty years now, which is plenty for the Head of Halloween. However, it is time that I pass the reigns on to someone else for a change, since my ideas, as great as they are, are not the only ones that are out there. I'm sure younger, brighter ones could come up with something even more modernly wicked during this time. It is official at this moment, that I needed to find someone who could take care of things for me so I could go off with someone who matters to me," his sockets twitched into an expression that resembled fondness. "And it is for this reason that I do so. No, I will not be discontinuing my work, people, this pupil will still have many things to learn of the fearsome art. How long I will be continuing will depend on this student's learning speed and ability, as well as his contributing to the Halloweens to come. As you all know, I have been searching for this someone for quite some time now and I am happy to say I am finished. When one is to choose the most fearsome, with great ideas, it takes time. This person must be strong with a good idea of just what Halloween really means."

"What is Halloween …?" Kairi murmured, unsure of just what this skeletal person was talking about.

"I, Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King of all of Halloween Town, hereby present, the Pumpkin Prince, heir to the Pumpkin King duties and thrown; Sora Daemon!" The crowd gasped as another figure, much smaller than the apparent Pumpkin King, appeared next to him, leaning over the railing with a sinister expression. Kairi herself, even from her distance, grew rigid as he bared his fangs tauntingly. The people below seemed to think differently about his presentation, for they then applauded him. He then smiled, something more kind that she could relate to and waved.

The boy was a brunette with hair that appeared to have never seen a comb, a pumpkin with a patched face that hung over his left eye. A shadow was cast over his eyes, so from her distance she couldn't get a good idea of just what they were like. Black wings sprouted from his back shoulders, making her sure he was, in no way human, just like every other thing in this area. He was dressed in some sort of balloon pants with patches of red on the low leggings that were tucked in large shoes that reminded her of a clown. He wore a collared vest over a dark tee that had a double collar; the inner grey and the outer white. His clawed hands were covered in white gloves. He actually was kind of dressed like a clown. She shivered.

_Except clowns are funny._

A woman then came from the tower, whispering to the man called "Jack Skellington", couldn't see his facial expression (partly from the lack of skin), but he suddenly turned back to the crowd that the boy was currently making frightening faces at the cheering and screaming citizens. "If you would all join me in the Great Meeting House, a feast has been molding for quite some time now, where I will be discussing this years plans." He then said something to the boy, Sora Daemon, who then nodded and flew off into the group, half were congratulating him and the others were leaving, probably to the "Meeting House" that the skeleton had spoken of earlier.

Kairi stuffed the snake inside her hood, after gripping the trunk of the tree, turning her knuckles white. That guy, those things, the teeth, no skin … it was disturbing! She cringed, gripping her stomach as she felt a sudden nausea, partly from being so nervous and partly from not having eaten dinner. She wasn't planning on staying out so late. She shakily climbed down from the tree. "Mom and Dad and everybody must be so worried…" She bit her lip. She had never been out later than five before, except on Christmas Eve, but that was tradition. The women would always see Saint Nicholas off before he left, making sure the reindeer were in good condition as well as helping the Working Elves and High Elves load the presents for the children.

Either way, she was going to be in big trouble when she got home. She stumbled over the roots that were popping up out of the ground. That is, _if_ she ever got home…

She fell on to the ground where a pile of colorful leaves crunched under her weight. She groaned, lifting herself up with her arms. She looked up, then stopped. Her shoes weren't lying on the snow pile anymore! She jolted up and ran toward the tiny snow bank she had originally landed on. Her right shoe was scurried off a few yards away, but where was her other one? She walked over to the annoying shoe which she was mentally cursing for taking off in the first place. She plopped down and shoved it on her foot. She stood up, now walking slightly lopsided with only one shoe on. "I feel like Cinderella." She grumbled. "Why'd I take my shoes off in the first place anyways?"

She took a step and a tinkling sound rang through the night. "Oh, right." She gripped her bell on her shoe and hobbled toward the woods, determined to get home before somebody came. A barking sound was heard nearby. "Oh no …" She dropped to the ground and leaned behind one of the larger, still standing gravestones.

A playful growl and yip, followed by a flurry of wings and a familiar jingle was very close by. "No, seriously, what _is_ that ridiculous thing anyways?" A boy's voice called out laughing. She wrinkled her nose, not thinking that anyone from this crazy place could actually laugh of all things. A chirp from what sounded like a dog was his response. "Zero, drop it." The boy commanded. The thing that the dog had jingled, apparently the dog was moving away. Kairi's eyes popped wide open.

She recognized that sound; that was her other shoe! She slowly turned so that she would be facing the two playful critters, to see if the predicament was worth risking being seen or if it would be better for her to go home without it. She could always hop home. She only managed to risk seeing a small ghost with a bright nose that apparently was a dog. It reminded her of Rudolf a bit. She sighed. Actually, Rudolf was a bit on the moody side for a male (Selphie says he suffers from male PMS) and rather territorial. This dog had a much more playful demeanor. She had to restrain from giggling at the idea of a playful Rudolf.

Feeling more daring, she peered around even more to see familiar black, clown shoes. It was the Pumpkin Prince! Remembering his frightening grin she squeaked and whirled around pressed her back against the gravestone. The boy's laughs subsided; apparently he heard her. "Is someone there?" The dog continued growling, wanting to play tug of war with her shoe. "Hello?" She held her breath. If only he would just go away … Her thoughts seemed to have been heard by somebody because after a few moments, his calls subsided and his footsteps seemed to have disappeared. She let herself breath, then turned around, this time making herself fully visible as she peered to see if he was still there.

The dog was floating around with her shoe still, as if looking for something, while she crawled toward the dead creature. She reached out toward the ghost. "Hey, ghostie, here ghostie …. Give me my shoe, please …" Its ears perked and it stared at her, almost dropping the shoe in surprise. "Give it to me, please." She whispered. She knelt back on her knees and outstretched her arm, waiting for the dog to drop it. It, however, had other ideas. It then bent low to the ground, as if crouching and wagged its tail, now growling playfully at _her._ "No! I don't want to play, gimme my shoe!" She then reached out and tried to take the shoe back, the shoe rang hard again as the dog then retaliated by growling and shaking the shoe in excitement. The dog growled and somersaulted where it floated, not grasping that she wasn't playing. Kairi shook the shoe herself, more so annoyed than to continue playing. This only excited the dog even more, so that it ripped the shoe out of her hands. She fell over, losing her grip. The dog started barking excitedly and started to run away, wanting Kairi to follow him. Kairi then stood up, lopsided, then lunged at the dog, falling through the animal, and keeping her shoe. "Ha!"

She popped back up from the ground, cheering. The dog grabbed it from her hands again and disappeared behind some gravestones. "No!" She scrambled up and ran behind the some gravestones the dog had disappeared from. The dog was nowhere. _How does a dog with a bright, red nose disappear?_ She sighed and leaned back on the gravestone, there deciding that she was a cat person.

"Boo."

She shrieked. A cackle from behind her sent a shiver down her spine. She whirled around to face shining blue eyes.

"You're a good screamer." It was the Pumpkin Prince! She edged away, shaking, staring at him with deer-in-a-head-lights-eyes. He leaned in closer, showing her fangs that gleamed. Her arms splayed out on either side of her. His nose was close to touching hers. "Who are you anyways?" He asked, cocking his head. She began sputtering, not seeming to articulate words. He laughed, leaning back to her relief, giving her some space. "Am I really that frightening?" She nodded meekly, bringing her arms to her chest as if to protect herself. "Cool." He jumped away from her, flapping his wings so that he stared at her from an upside-down angle. "But seriously, who are you?" He gave her a once over. "And what's with the getup?"

"Me?!" She blurted. "What about you?! You're flying!" He landed on the ground, taken back.

"So? I know plenty of guys who can do that, what's your point?" Apparently he wasn't grasping the fact that people simply _can't_ fly. Then again, there's no way these people are normal… He grinned. "I bet you're just jealous!" He then lifted her up by her underarms and floated up into the air.

"No! Put me down! Please!" Kairi screeched with flailing arms and legs. This guy who she doesn't even know is just going around and picking her up? What is up with him?! "Put me _down!_"

"Alright!" He let go of her so that she was now screaming even harder than before, with her skirt flailing up in the most undignifying way. She covered her face, seeing the ground coming fast.

Firm hands grabbed her by her waist. A familiar cackle was heard and she glared at the boy who seemed to find her fright funny. "Seriously, your scream is awesome!" He laughed again. She scowled.

"Well, your laugh is disturbing." He perked at this comment.

"Seriously? Thanks!" He then gently lowered her onto a strange hill that actually seemed to curve into a small spiral. He landed gently next to her. He eyed her again. "What, what are you?" She glared at him.

"_I _am a _human_, thank you very much! Do you think it would kill you to tell _me_ what _you_ are?" She pointed a very accusing finger at him which he backed away from. His eyes widened.

"A human? Woah!" He poked her in the nose with his gloved claw. She batted his hand away. "That would explain that strange get up …" He murmured out loud. He suddenly perked and reached for her. She flinched. The Pumpkin Prince batted her hood away, revealing her snake which was wrapped around her head. He grabbed her snake and held it above his head, eyeing it. Kairi gasped and reached for her pet.

"Please, give him back!" She cried. He ignored her, staring intently at the snake who seemed to be giving him the same expression. "He hasn't done anything to you!" She then tried to actually touch the weird boy by climbing on him. He easily dodged her, keeping his intense gaze.

He turned to her after a minute, holding out the milk snake. She gently took the reptile from his hands and cradled the creature in her arms. "Leonardo." The boy stated. She stared at him.

"Huh?"

"His name," he gestured to the snake. "Is Leonardo." She squinted at him.

"Isn't his name my choice?"

"Well, that's what he told me." He said with a shrug. She left the snake on her shoulder and placed her hands on her hips.

"He told you? Yeah, right."

"Of course you wouldn't believe me, humans are unable to communicate." He noted.

"Communicate what?" He sighed, and grabbing onto her arm, pulled her down to sit as well.

"I am Sora Daemon," he pointed to himself. "I am a bat demon, understand?" Her eyes widened, registering he was on a different level of "humane". "As a demon I am able to do things you apparently cannot comprehend." He spoke slowly as if speaking with a two year old. "See, I can fly and talk to reptiles and amphibians and, of course, bats." He puffed up his chest. "I'm also super strong, but that's all me." He leaned toward her. "You should be thanking me. I'm hungry and I haven't tried to devour you or anything."

She shrieked. He laughed. Kairi glared at him. "Stop that! I don't like being scared!" She told him. "I prefer feeling happy thank you! Jolly and at peace!" Sora frowned.

"Ew, don't say that! Those are …. Merry things…" He shivered. She was the one leaning forward this time.

"Don't you know what those things mean?" She demanded. "Do you even know what candy is?" He perked when she said that.

"Yeah! Who wouldn't? Candy's awesome!" She smiled, happy with something they could agree on. She leaned forward even further.

"Do you have a favorite?" She asked, smiling gently. He blinked, noticing her change of expression, debating on whether or not he liked it.

"Yeah … candy apples…" He said, eyes not leaving hers. She scrunched up her nose.

"What kind of candy is that? That's a fruit!" She pointed out.

"It's candy covered apple; my favorite's caramel!" He licked his lips at the thought. He turned to her. "You've never had a candied apple before?" He asked in amazement. She shook her head no. "That's crazy! I'll go get you some!" He began to fly away. She stood up abruptly.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" She called. He wasn't _that_ bad to have around …

He shrugged. "I'm getting candied apples." He flew back towards her and grasped her small hands in his own. "There's a feast going on right now, and I'm sure that candied apples are a part of the assortment of food that they have there." He gently tugged her. "Don't you want to go? Leonardo sure seems like he wants to." And sure enough, the snake had slithered to her shoulder and was excitedly sniffing the air with his tongue and flicking his tail.

Kairi shook her head. "No, I just want to go home." She argued, trying to pull away from him.

"Go home?" His eyes widened in some sort of realization. "Oh, I see! Look," He turned stern. "You're _dead_ now, sorry, this is your new home." He let go of one of her hands and gestured all around them. He then smiled. "I'll show you around, I bet your grave is around here somewhere …"

Kairi felt herself pale and tucked her hand to her chest. _Dead?_ She couldn't be dead! She was alive this morning! What could have killed her? She bit her lip and felt herself tear up. She didn't want to be here! She was going to be baking crepes with her mom, something she hadn't been able to do for a while. Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Her eyes widened.

"I'm not dead!" She exclaimed. Sora did a double take.

"Yes you are! Humans can only be here if they're dead and you are here, so you're dead." Sora argued. Kairi sighed and gestured to her chest.

"Well, I have a _heartbeat_, so I can't be dead." She said, rubbing her eyes to rid herself of tears. Sora stared at her, curious, then leaned forward and actually pressed his head against her left chest. Kairi backed away from impact. He looked up, this time confused.

"Well, that's weird…" He flapped his wings and slowly scanned her by circling around. She warily followed his movements with her eyes. He landed behind her, hand covering the lower part of his face, apparently thinking. "You sure you're human?" She nodded vigorously. He leaned forward, baring his fangs and attempted to bite her arm. She screeched and he laughed.

"What was that for?" She asked, more scared than angry. He shrugged.

"Well, your blood will tell me if you're human." Kairi couldn't believe he could say that so calmly. "From my mom's side," he added. "She's a vampire." Kairi had officially decided that she was against cross-breeding of any species if things like the boy in front of her would end of being the spawn. "So if you would hold still, I'll be able to figure out what to do with you…" He leaned forward again and Kairi stepped back.

"It's called personal space and somehow, I'm not too keen on having some stranger taking a bite out of me, possibly deciding later that he'll want to eat me." She told him with a shaky voice.

"Nah, I wouldn't eat you, you're too funny." He grinned. "Seriously, your scream is awesome." She vaguely wondered if saying someone had a good scream was a good thing here since he kept on saying it. He lunged forward again and she let out a small squeak. He started giggling. "See?"

"I think our senses of humor are a little different." She gently informed him.

"Well, what do you find funny?"

Kairi shrugged, tugging at the hem of her dress. "I don't know, whatever makes _me_ laugh, I suppose …" She smiled. "I'd say funny things, but that could vary." An awkward silence fell between the two as distant cheering from the town was heard.

"So … are you hungry …?" Sora asked. "I can tell Leonardo is." Kairi's stomach growled, but even then, she wasn't comfortable going into some area where having a good scream was a good thing. She didn't even _like_ being scared. Her snake, who she decided she would call Leonardo for the heck of it, became excited at the thought. "He says he wants a rat; a fat one." Sora chuckled. This time, so did Kairi. A laugh that was quiet a soft, sort of like the bells on her shoes. Sora stopped, listening to her as she raised her hands to giggle into, hunched over slightly. "You have a nice laugh, too." He noted. Kairi stopped and looked up at him, almost as if seeing him for the first time.

"Thanks …" She felt that his laugh was becoming less disturbing the more that they spoke, but he had mentioned earlier that "disturbing" was good, so she said nothing. Sora leaned over her.

"Hm? What's this?" He gestured to her messenger bag. She gasped. She had forgotten about the muffins she had packed earlier! She smiled despite herself and reached into her bag, pulling out one muffin and held it out to him. "Are those muffins?" He asked. She nodded, surprised, expecting him to not know what it was. He took it from her hands, eyeing it in his gloved hand and sniffed it. Kairi giggled.

"It's not going to bite you!" Sora looked up.

"It won't?"

"Er … no …" She murmured, trying to picture what a muffin that would bite back would look like. "It's just regular food, try it!" He looked down, curious with a slight doubting and shoved the entire thing in his mouth. With a debating expression he chewed obnoxiously.

"Ifs fugaray." He said through a full mouth. Kairi wrinkled her nose, being a little iffy about common manners. She decided she'd let it go, he seemed to have a different upbringing than she did. He gulped loudly. "It's weird tasting." He told her, tilting his head. "Maybe could use some mold…"

_"Mold?"_ He nodded.

"And maybe a sprinkle of worm's wart…" Kairi blanched.

"Err… if you say so … never tried it myself …"

"Worm's wart is awesome! You should try it, another reason to go to the banquet!" Sora suggested. He tugged her arm again. She pulled back and shook her head.

"Can't. I have my own places to be at." She admitted. On the one hand, she wanted to say, despite some (or many) things, he seemed ok, and she did want to talk a little more, but she really had to get going. "Maybe some other time." She actually had no intention of returning, if it would end up being a one-way trip.

"Why? Don't you want worm's wart?" She shook her head. "Oh …" He appeared slightly put out. She stood up, remembering she only had one shoe on. She stared down at her foot. Sora did, too. He perked up. He reached out and grabbed her foot out from under her so she fell to the ground where he was. She yelped which he looked up and gave a toothy grin. He eyed her foot with the shoe, then reached in his vest, pulling out her other shoe. "This is a shoe …" He seemed to be talking more to himself than to her.

"Yeah," she reached for her missing item. "Mine." He gave it to her as she hastily put it on, then extended her legs and pointed her toes like a ballerina to check everything was in its proper place. Sora pointed to her shoes.

"What is the purpose of those bells?" He asked. She blinked and turned her feet over so she could get a better look.

"Decoration, mostly, y'know giving it a Christmas feel." She chimed.

"'Christmas' feel? What's a 'Christmas?'" Kairi blinked.

"Christmas? Christmas is a wondrous holiday." She sighed, clasping her hands together. "The colors and presents and cakes and cheer!" She giggled to herself. "Christmas is a holiday!"

"Really?" Sora shrugged. "The only holiday I've ever heard of is Halloween." It was Kairi's turn for a confused expression.

"Halloween…?" She took a small bite from one of the muffins. She swallowed. "Yeah, I think I heard that mentioned earlier, never have heard of it until now …" Sora spread his arms.

"Where do you think you are? This is Halloween Town!" Kairi looked around with wide eyes.

"Halloween Town…?" The name sounded foreign on her tongue.

"Yeah, where kids go trick or treating and there's candy and we scare everybody out of their pants!" He cackled hysterically, probably at some memory.

"You scare people?" She asked.

"Yeah, everybody." He grinned. He then lowered his voice to a whisper. "Even I got scared two Halloweens ago…" His pale flesh had a tinge of pink at that.

"Well, you seem keen on scaring me." Kairi scowled. She stood up and began walking back toward the graveyard.

"No! Wait!" He flapped his tiny wings hard and floated down next to her. "Where do you want to go?" He asked. Kairi looked around, eyes stopping on the woods. _It was through woods that I got here …_She pointed.

"Through the woods." She told him, then smiled sweetly at him. "Could you help me?' She asked. He turned from her to the forest.

"Sure!" He then picked her up around the waist once more, wings flapping harder than ever. The two teens rose into the air, her shoes jingling in tune with his pace. The air whipped her face, red hair flying in front of her. She scanned the ground, vaguely making out her footsteps in the light powdering of dirt from the woods to the graveyard. She pointed and Sora nodded, flying lower to the ground so they could see where she had come from. It wasn't long until they spotted the imprint of her figure where she had fallen earlier. Sora lowered her to the ground so that her feet skimmed the ground. He landed lightly next to her. "This where you came from?"

"Sort of," she complied. "This is where I found myself at first here. I come from Christmas Town." Sora grabbed hold of her hand.

"Then let's go this way." He began to fly upward, this time flying low and holding her by her hands. She screeched for him to put her down, having no idea where it was that he was taking her. This only seemed to delight him even more as he then sped up, dodging spooky trees that seemed to be mocking her, stretching their branches out at her. She wouldn't be surprised if they were.

She flailed her dangling legs, trying to reach the ground. Sora sped up, flying in random directions, the moon faded over time as the sun with a pumpkin face popped up over time. By this time, he had fallen to the ground, both of them tumbling to the ground and away from the area they had fallen, down a hill. Kairi held tight to him as they rolled. The two finally came to a stop when they slammed into a tree. Kairi lay where she was, stunned for a moment, then sat up with messed hair. She reached in the front of her dress where Leonardo had resided. She held him up.

"Are you alright?" She cried. The snake hissed and jetted out at her, wrapping itself around her arm, frightened. She cuddled the reptile, then turned to the demon, suddenly remembering she had fallen with him, too. "Sora?" She leaned over him, shaking his shoulder gently. He moaned, stretching his arm out, then hissed, covering his face with his arms. "What is it?"

"The sun burns …" He muttered from where he lay. "Don't you know anything about vampires?" He snapped. She sat back, taken back.

"Sorry … didn't know-_don't_ know what's wrong." She said in her defense. "I don't know what a _vampire_ is anyways!" Sora's hand jetted out and she screamed, thinking he was going to hit her. He missed her head. He brought his hand back, showing a squirming mouse.

"You said you wanted to feed Leonardo, right?" She nodded and Leonardo sprang from her arm and snatched the rat from Sora, spreading its mouth wide, gulping the struggling mouse into its slender body. Kairi looked away from her pet and determinedly kept her gaze on Sora.

"Thanks …" He gave her a thumbs up, then fell back.

"Are you going to be alright?" Kairi asked. Sora leaned forward and pulled his hood up over his face, then grinned. She nodded slowly. Kairi looked around to see where they were and gasped. They were in a circle of trees quite similar to the ones she had seen earlier! There was the four leaf clover, the egg, and, in place of the pumpkin with the scary face was a Christmas tree! Kairi scrambled to her feet and ran to the tree, delighted. Maybe if she went through this door, she'd be home! She reached for one of the decorations on the tree, about to open up when Sora called out for her to stop. She turned to face him.

"I just realized-I don't know your name." He told her.

"Kairi Clause."

"Kairi Claws? Cool." He strutted up to her. "What's this?" His eyes widened, noticing the strange trees just then. He leaned forward and traced his gloved hand over the tree. "Interesting …"

"It's my way home." Sora looked up at her. She made eye contact. "You know how to get to your own home, right?" He nodded. Kairi picked up Leonardo who seemed almost done with the rat and lay him in her hood. "Good, because I have to go home."

"You live in a tree?"

"No! This is how I got here!" Kairi sighed. Sora frowned.

"Can I come?" He stared at her with such cow eyes that she almost said yes.

"No, you probably shouldn't." She admitted. "I really do need to go home …" She turned to the tree and opened it the same way she had done so earlier that morning. A familiar breeze that smelled of sweet gingerbread filled her nostrils. She leaned forward, but was stopped. Sora had a tight grip on her hand.

"You'll come back, right?" Blue eyes with lilac specs met cat-eyed aqua. She felt the winds of home pull her into the tree.

"Yes!" She called. "I'll meet you by the spiraling hill!" And he disappeared from sight, unbeknownst to the two of them that they just created a bond that was both jolly and dreadful.


	3. All Planned Out

Kairi couldn't remember the last time her grandfather (or anyone in her family, for that matter) had been as furious as he had been when she had gotten home. He and the rest of her family had demanded to know where she had been, why she was gone so long and why her shoes had teeth marks all over them. Needless to say, she had to come up with a tall tale that was actually more believable than the truth. She had a knot in her stomach ever since she had lied, having never actually told such a big lie before, which made it all the more likely to them that she was telling the truth, and had been keen on being exceptionally helpful. Her mother has come up with the story that she was frightened in some way, and has then come to doting her, making her feel even worse.

And on the other hand, she has yet to tell anyone of her new (she is still debating) friend, Sora the Pumpkin Prince, which was difficult anyways since it didn't play with her story. She vaguely wondered if he had forgotten about her, since it had been a month since she had seen him last. The red head sure hoped not, seeing how she had gotten slightly attached to the demon hybrid. Sure, he was a tad annoying and didn't seem to have a clue about proper etiquette, but from the day she had gotten to know him, he grew on her. Then again, maybe he was mad at her for not coming back like she said she would. It wasn't as if she had let him come with her, so he probably assumed she didn't like him and was hurt. She had pondered on that horrid thought for a while.

She sat on a fluffed up rocking chair that creaked each time it swayed back as her grandfather started over his naughty list. It seemed, sadly, there were many children on that list this year. He circled a few that he was still debating. "It seems more and more of the good children are forced into not believing in me anymore." He sighed sadly. Kairi nodded, taking pity. Many children, she had come to understand, were forced into embarrassing situations where they announced they no longer believed in Santa Claus. Once that was stated, they were off his delivery list forever. It may seem harsh, but what was the point of sending gifts to a child who did not believe in him when there were many others he had to care for?

Kairi fiddled with Leonardo who was pretty active for a snake and seemed to take on a playful demeanor (she suspected Aerith may have altered his attitude in some way) and was following her finger which she was tracing in gentle circular motions on her legs. She glanced up at her grandfather who was busily muttering to himself, scratching out in ink and rewriting names. She disliked their weekly meetings when he decided to use them for his own purposes, having less and less time away from the toy making since the gifts asked for were becoming more and more complicated to create. As time was moving forth within the "normal world", technology was moving forward in toys while they seemed stuck in one time period. Since all of Christmas Town was bound by tradition. She eyed her new zipper shoes with distaste, preferring her old ones she had to rid herself of since they were in such poor condition.

"Kairi," she looked up, hearing the voice of her grandfather finally addressing her. "This looks like its going to take me a while, why don't you run off and do something." He gave a low chuckle. "I'm sure this is boring you." She turned a light pink and gave a slight nod, taking Leonardo in her arms and left after kissing her grandfather goodbye.

She then had two hours to herself! What should she do? She stopped and sat on the staircase that she half detested. Selphie was practicing flying lessons with Aerith and some reindeer, Wakka was off visiting relatives and Tidus had double duty as posing as Santa in the mall since last Tuesday when he knocked over a mountain of China dolls. Kairi was sure pretty much anyone else would be willing to play with her (in fear of a demotion from the big guy), but she didn't feel like going through the whole "make new friends" deal for she had little patience at the moment from sitting in one place for over forty minutes. Her stomach grumbled, which pulled her to the kitchens.

Kairi rummaged through the bakery, finding some melon bread that she found suited her hunger at the moment and sat on a high stool, listening to the hail pound on the window. What could she do? She took a bite, munching quietly. She stopped and stared at the bread, wondering if Sora would have liked it. She smiled coyly. She turned to Leonardo. "Are you hungry, boy?" He seemed to get the message for his head snapped up and he was sniffing around with his tongue flicking excitedly. She took it as a yes and scooped him up in her hood, running to outside to her wanted destination: Halloween Town.

Her heavy stomps took no notice as she ran through the woods, somehow remembering just how it was that she had gone there before, taking long strides and ignoring her heavy breath and steady heart that was begging her to slow down. She could feel a tug at her scalp as Leonardo in desperation to not fall out from her abnormally fast pace had wrapped around some chunk of hair. She made a mental note to get a snake carrier of some sort. She continued sprinting until the familiar trees that were angle in a circle came into view. She slowed to a walk as she entered the magical area that she was trying to figure out just how it worked. She leaned forward, using her legs as a breath, catching her breath, not used to being a fast runner. Kairi then breathed loudly and stood up straight, automatically seeing the pumpkin with the creepy face and reached out to open the side of the image. Like before, air that she vaguely recognized blew into her face, almost angrily and she leaned in, confidently and plunged into darkness where ghosts with no figure swarmed about her, cawing.

She fell in a heap on to the ground that was covered in leaves. It was dark out and a bright moon was overhead. She stood and began walking through the graveyard that the corpses had already left. A bark made her stop and she turned to see Zero, the dead dog that had stolen her shoe before. It growled a bit, at first not recognizing her, then suddenly perked and started wagging its nonexistent tail. It yipped and floated over to her. "Yeah, it has been a while, hasn't it?" She said softly.

"Yep." She jumped and turned around, face to face with Sora. She smiled.

"How've you been?" She asked cheerily. He scowled and kicked the dirt, hands in his pockets. He kept his gaze low and refused to look at her. She bent forward, attempting to meet his eyes. "What-?"

"What took you?" He asked with a rather childish pout adorning his face. He folded his arms across his chest. Kairi bit her lip, having feared something like this would happen. "I've already picked up twenty miles per hour in my flying since the last time I saw you." Kairi's eyes widened, wondering just how fast it was that he could fly, remembering when he had carried her around on her first visit.

"Sorry," She looked down. "I was really busy … especially since I had lied about you since my tale was so farfetched and it wasn't as if I could tell them I went in a tree to find rats and ended up in some (no offense) strange place where--"

"Oh, is that it?" She looked up, meeting a happy face. Sora gave her a toothy grin. "Why didn't ya just say so?" With that he pulled out a large bag that stunk. He held it out to her. Kairi choked on the air.

"Err … thanks … what is it?" She held it out from her as far away as she could. Something was definitely rotting in there …

"You said you were trying to collect mice for Leonardo, right?" She nodded mutely, silently hoping there wasn't a pile of dead mice in there. How would she explain that to Selphie when she came over? "Well, I was collecting mice for when you'd come next time--I didn't mean for the number to get so big, but I was expecting you to come a lot sooner." She gave him a crooked smile.

"Well, at least I'll know that I'll have some spare …" She then decided to make her business that Leonardo would not become lazy and fat of rodents. He beamed even more, very pleased with himself and his hard work. "So … how have things been for you?" She placed the bag next to her, not noticing Leonardo making his way.

Sora shrugged. "Well, I've been helping prepare for Halloween, y'know, setting up Jacko' Lanterns, making some scaring routes, creating plans for the best scaring homes, working on my flying skills cause it's not my strong suit … that sort of stuff." Kairi nodded with wide eyes, truly interested, but she had no clue what he was talking about. "And Riku was teaching me this cool new trick he learned with daggers so that you could trick someone into thinking you're dead! It was totally awesome …" He grinned to himself, chuckling at some memory that Kairi thought best not to ask about.

"Riku?"

"My best friend, really funny guy, good with pranks, you'd probably like him, actually …" Sora scratched his chin thoughtfully. Kairi stared at him as he went deep him thought with a glazed over expression. "Yeah, Riku would …" He fixed his eyes on Kairi then turned a deep red and scowled. Kairi kept her gaze on the boy who kept changing his facial expressions. "No, don't meet Riku … don't …" He turned away muttering to himself.

"Sora … what do you think of our … _predicament?_" She gave him a half smile and bit her lip. Sora cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Predicament?"

"See, well, honestly, I like you, you're an ok guy, but …" She trailed off, not completely sure how to say what she wanted to. "We don't exactly live close by and I don't know if you've told anyone about meeting me, but I certainly haven't because this is unbelievable! And how would it work anyways? Someone is bound to notice and if I say what's really going on I'll end up in an insane asylum!"

"What's wrong with asylums?" Sora asked. Kairi shuddered.

"Nothing … I just …"

"Nah, I get it." Sora shrugged. "Maybe we could try meeting here every once in a while, I come here on daily walks with Zero anyways, come here whenever you want." He outstretched his arms to either side of himself. "Not like I don't want you to come. It'll be fun, too, I can show you around town, we can go mice hunting, and then you can have some candied apples!" He looked at her like a puppy would. "You sure I can't visit where _you're_ from?"

She hesitated as visions of Sora running lose and screaming elves all over the factory, the demon proclaiming he wants to taste their blood to see if they're really elves, her grandfather mistaking him for some mutant robotic doll and trying to burn him, and Sora screeching like he had before as the sun (which was rather bright, despite being winter twenty four seven) burned him to a crisp. "It may not be that good of an idea …" Seeing his slightly hurt expression she quickly added, "it's really sunny there, you may not like that." He hissed and crouched low to the ground, agreeing with her assessment.

A wave of comfortable silence followed that as Leonardo finally finished through three rats, finding himself full and curled up in what would be considered "reptile heaven" (aka the bag of dead rodents). Kairi and Sora sat on the ground, beginning some small talk, learning tidbits about one another. The moon glistened in the otherwise clear sky as it began to descend from site. The two were giggling, failing to notice time passing by. Leonardo did, for he slithered up onto Sora after glimpsing at the sky, startled, and reminded him that they both had an agenda to keep to.

"C'mon Kairi," he stood up and offered her his gloved hand which she accepted gratefully and he pulled her up. Like before, he lifted her up, this time bridal style and flew away, grazing the tree tops.

They failed to notice three figures watching their retreating forms.

"So this is why the demon's been so downhearted lately…!" One voice cackled.

"This is perfect, and we already know their plans, too!" Another snickered.

"We're definitely going to get a reward for this!" A third countered. They all cheered in agreement to this assessment. The trio then glided along in what appeared to be a walking tub and continued along a road that was rarely used. The same road that was used nearly thirty years previously for the planning of a devious kidnapping of Santa Claus himself. They soon entered a courtyard that lead to a crooked castle that had a drawbridge and a caged elevator that hung from an old rope that some how stayed strong. They leaped from the moving bathtub and sprinted over the bridge, entering their home which was covered in webs, and rats and other things that would untidy a home.

A crooked and bent pipe that popped out from the wall they walked to, grinning to themselves. A voice called from below, apparently hearing their heavy footsteps pounding on the wooden floor. "I suppose you have some _news_ for me?"

At once they all saluted, despite being out of viewing range. "Lock, Shock and Barrel, reporting for duty, sir!" And yes, it was the old trio, yet slightly older, hitting in their early twenties. Barrel, with a slight amount of stoutness around his middle and chin, Lock with a surprisingly good build and a goatee and Shock rather lean in her large, boxy dress.

Shock shoved the other two out of the way and leaned into the pipe to get her voice across so she was heard better. "We've been doing some snooping like you've said and you'll never believe what we found…!"

"What we found! What we found!" Barrel cackled to himself. Lock, annoyed, elbowed him in the rib.

"As you told us," Lock started, shoving Shock out of the way, whispering closely to the receiver. "We watched out for the skeleton and rag doll for anything that might become a weakness if expanded and deepened. We've been keeping a look out for the past seven years like you told us, yet nothing has caught our eyes until earlier…" The three nodded in agreement, snickering to themselves. "Today we found out where that little demon child had run off to that time where the entire town went berserk!"

"Berserk! Berserk! Berserk!" Shock hit Barrel over the head to quiet him.

Lock continued after silencing the two with a hard glare. "Sora-kins has been acting rather moody, as we had told you before, and especially snappish for a half-breed at his own age. Shock chimed in.

"He's been meeting a little _girl._" She chimed with a cackle. Barrel scratched his head with a Cheshire cat grin.

"Hardly a _little _girl if you ask me …" Lock snickered in agreement while Shock kicked both of them indignantly.

Shock turned back to the receiver. "And here's the kick, you're going to die again when you hear this, she's not from _around_ here, oh no … she's from Christmas Town!" She lowered her voice to an excited whisper, as if she were saying something forbidden.

"Isn't there irony in that?" Lock snickered. "I bet someone as genius as yourself could find a way to play this into your _gruesome_ hands, especially with past occurrences, yes?"

A low chuckling came from the pipes, echoing through to their ears, they all grinned taking the key. The laughter erupted slowly as if not been able to laugh like it had for so long. It turned to hysterics with a certain darkness to it and drowned out the trio's laughter that was following his. After a long while, he stopped, calming himself. The three followed suit.

"Oogie Boogie thinks you all should continue to keep an eye on this doll face …"


	4. Caught Hand in Hand

**I don't particularly care for this chapter, however, it needed to be done, sadly. And thank you for all of those reviews! They made me so happy! . Enjoy!**

It took three more visits from Kairi to Halloween Town for the two to decide to meet every Wednesday from there on after, coordinating their schedules since their home towns were beginning the preparations for their separate holidays. Kairi had then asked for a three hour free block which she used to go and visit Sora. She no longer needed to scavenge for rodents, since Sora had been collecting them for her (she never bothered to ask how) and had begun carrying a bag with her every time she goes out as if to say she still is. Not only that, but she has replaced her necklace with a golden chain and watch so that she can keep track of time when she is out so she does not cause another panic attack around the workshop, especially since everyone is so stressed out at the moment.

Either way, the two have found themselves growing extremely close within the last five months, spending their time just chatting away and getting to know one another. They had even eventually resided in a large old willow tree where they would have small picnics. Kairi had made it necessary to bring the food herself, since she had once forgotten to do so and Sora had flown off to get candied apples … dipped in frogs' breath. Needless to say, she would not be forgetting any time soon.

She had also been noticing Sora acting rather strange the last few visits that she had made. For one, he seemed to be rather insistent about carrying her from place to place, claiming it would be giving him a good workout (afterwards reassuring her she wasn't in any way "fat"). Not to mention one time where he kept on saying the strangest things to her.

They had been eating some chocolate dipped strawberries which the two were munching on happily, talking about nosy friends. Sora suddenly cut himself off when describing his friend Riku to Kairi, and had turned quiet. Kairi had perked at his sudden lack of social personality and rested a hand on his shoulder and leaned forward to his level. "Is something bothering you?" He met her gaze then took in a deep breath, puffing out his chest like a toad or frog.

"Kairi, you make mountains fall." Kairi had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean. She stared at him with a confused and surprised expression that seemed to turn the already pink boy a darker shade of red, something she didn't know possible. She opened her mouth to take another bite when he made another statement that had absolutely no meaning to her. "And … and walls ooze, too!" She was starting to feel really uncomfortable about the situation because he seemed really serious about these declarations and she had no idea what they meant. She took a bite of another strawberry to hide her feelings. He then turned to a grim expression as if taking some sort of last resort and then took a deep breath and asked, "would you like me to butter your toast?" Kairi stared at Sora who was now a deep scarlet and seemed to be waiting for some sort of impending doom. She held out the basket full of fruit.

"But we only have strawberries." This seemed to only upset him more as he then turned away from her, after grabbing some strawberries, muttering something about "never taking advice from Riku". Seeing how he was in such an unstable mood, she had decided to change the subject.

And to bring butter and toast for the next visit (for some reason he didn't seem too pleased).

It had been three weeks since then and Kairi was running a little late, having accidentally burnt the apple pie she was baking for the two, she decided to start over. She had ran up the stairs with her basket under her arm, trying to keep it warm, when she heard a loud thump. Alarmed, when she reached the top of the stairs she crept slowly to the outside of her bedroom door, feeling her heartbeat within her head. She reached slowly for the doorknob which suddenly seemed rather ferocious to her. She furrowed her brows then took in a large gulp of air and swung open the door. "Wakka! You better not be in my room-!" She stopped, frozen in the doorway, gaping.

"Hey, Kairi."

She dropped her basket, then slammed the door behind her. Adrenaline pumping within her she asked, "What are you doing here?" Sora apparently didn't seem to recognize the amount of problems he had just caused by appearing in her room of all places. For starters, her father, the elven army, Vixen the reindeer, her grandfather, grandmother, Wakka, Tidus and Selphie among many others would beat him to a pile of _goo_ if they found him in her bedroom. She knew for a fact not many people would react very kindly to his presence in the first place. The sun was exceptionally bright here and she doubted his hood would be shelter enough. He did not know the terrain of the area very well when it comes to flying and he has a poor sense of direction. But most importantly, he was _in her room._

She suddenly found herself thankful for her mom's insistent nagging to pick up her dirty clothes.

"You were late so I got worried." He shrugged. He resided on the end of her bed with legs crossed, Leonardo sitting on his lap. He was playing with an unraveled yo-yo of hers. Leonardo was playing with the string that was nearly fully undone from the toy. Kairi gaped at him.

"But! You-you can't just come into my room!" She cried. Sora tilted his head.

"Huh? What's the problem?" Kairi's cheeks turned bright pink, suddenly flustered. Sora blinked, then looked around the space as if seeing it for the first time. He looked down at the bed he was seated on. _Kairi's _bed. He flushed slightly.

"I just, a girl's room is very personal, alright?!" She fell to her knees and leaned against the door. She groaned and closed her eyes. "Did anyone see you?" She asked, figuring that to be the most important obstacle at the moment. He murmured 'no'. She sighed in relief. "Good …"

"Hey, Kairi, I have a question …" She opened her eyes. He stood up and rustled through his jacket, then, to her surprise, let fall a large assortment of different objects that he had somehow managed to hide. She gaped at the piles of pie, mistletoe, presents, toys, cookies, socks and Christmas ornaments that splay across the carpet. "What's all this?" Kairi felt this to be another "don't ask where he got these" moment and gulped loudly.

"Uh … well," She held up two different ornaments, one being a glass, green ball that was glittered with red and gold, the other was a six pointed star that had a bulb on the inside and a switch that, when turned on, would glow gold. "You know how I told you about Santa Clause-"

"Your grandpa, right?" Sora interrupted to double check, munching on a cookie.

"Right, well, he puts all of the presents under a large pine tree. Often, people will decorate these pine trees with decorations like these." She held out the ball. "These will go on the sides, as well as strings of anything from popcorn to lights." She placed the ball down and turned on the star. "Stars and angels usually go on the top of a Christmas tree, kind of like a center piece." She gave Sora the star to play with since the glow seemed to have caught his attention. Sora flicked the light on and off several times, amusing himself and incredibly interested with the object that Kairi normally would not think twice about.

"Interesting …" Sora murmured to himself. He then flexed his claws and unscrewed the nails that held in the bulb and battery.

"Sora? What are you-?" The ornament fell apart and he let them fall to the ground. He looked up at Kairi with childlike horror.

"I just wanted to see what was in it." Kairi started giggling to herself while Sora searched through the pile again. He held up a stream of colored lights that were not turned on. He held them out to Kairi. "What are these?" He flicked the lights as if expecting them to ring like bells.

Kairi pushed them away. "They're more tree decorations, they wrap around the tree in a spiral pattern. Plug them in and they light up like that star did earlier." This perked Sora up and he quickly found a plug-in and inserted the wires. He cheered at the lights as the flickered on and off in their own patterns, not keeping in sync with one another. He wrapped it around Kairi and himself, laughing. Kairi smiled as well, more so interested in the objects in the pile. "Anything else?" Sora quickly retrieved another item. It was a red sock that had the name "Alex" written on it in blue. The opening was lined with white fuzz. "It's a stocking. They-"

"The socks that your grandpa puts in tiny toys and candies, right?" Sora said, reciting what Kairi had previously told him. He stuck his hand in it. Then his face. "Where are the mini toys?" His muffled voice called. Kairi shook her head, laughing, and took the stocking off.

"He only puts them in stockings on _Christmas Eve._" She reminded him. She put the stocking to the side and took another item for herself. She held up a reindeer-shaped cookie. "_Sora_, I _know_ you know what _these_ are …" She dangled the cookie in front of his face.

"Yeah …" He grabbed the cookie from her. "But I was hungry." He chomped noisily.

"Pig!" She teased. She would have taken one for herself, but she had no idea where they came from. Instead, she started on the pie that she was baking earlier. Sora took some for himself, shoveling a large piece in his mouth along with the cookie. He resembled a chipmunk. "A really _fat _pig …" She muttered mockingly. Sora looked down and unzipped his jumpsuit. Kairi flushed, unsure of his actions. He stopped at the belt, revealing a well developed display of muscle. "Ok, I take it back…" He zipped himself back up, munching, with a smug expression that was rather unSoraish.

He then reached over for another object. He held a doll. He gulped loudly, sending all of the food in his mouth down his esophagus. "What is this?" He then guessed before Kairi could say anything. "A voodoo doll?" She shook her head.

"No, just a plain doll that says "momma" when its batteries are in." Seeing Sora open his mouth she added, "No, I don't have any extras batteries for us to test with." Sora closed his mouth in response. "Now do you have-?"

A knock sounded on the door. Kairi and Sora's eyes popped wide open. Kairi whipped around to face Sora. "Hide." She hissed. He pranced around the room, looking for some place to hide, but her bed covers did not reach the ground to hide what was beneath and everything else in the room was either white or purple, not quite matching Sora's coloring so he could blend in.

"Why is everything in you room white?" He asked, slightly cross. The door opened and Kairi flung him into her closet (knowing full well she'd probably regret it later) and slammed the doors shut.

"Come in." Selphie bounded in the room.

"Kairi, I'm so glad I found you!" She cheered, bouncing onto Kairi's bed. "I have some free time cause everyone is taking a break because Yuna is giving birth to twins!" Kairi's eyes widened and she landed next to Selphie on the bed, eyes drawn to the light in that reflected underneath her closet doors turning on and off again. "We're not allowed to go, though."

"Who is it …?" Leonardo slithered under into the closet where a thumping was drumming faintly against the wall.

"I dunno, she's an older mother who is a Working Elf so I have no tabs on her." Selphie shrugged. "I'm sure you'll be able to see her later once she's in the recovery room." She stood up and took both of Kairi's hands in hers, pulling. "You want to go do something or what? I only have so much free time, you know!" Kairi continued glancing at where Sora was hiding.

"I don't know …"

"Pleeeaaase … Kairi?" Selphie puckered her lower lip in a pathetic attempt to do a puppy pout. "I'll even play with Leonardo!"

"I just … I can't …" She really wanted to go play with Selphie, but there is Sora here, too …

"Why not? Is this because of that whole staining your clothes red thing? Cause I am totally sorry about that, I-!"

"Wait, that was _you?!_"

"Huh, what's that?" Selphie had finally caught on to the light show and thumping in the closet that had been going on since she came into the room. Kairi felt her innards clench in dread as Selphie stood up to go take a peek. "Did you mix together tree lighting and a flashlight again, Kairi?"

"No! It's uh …" Kairi searched in her mind for a lie, but having little experience, drew a blank. "I um … don't look in there!" Kairi screamed as Selphie reached for the handle. Startled, she drew her hand back.

"Eh? Why not?" Selphie smiled coyly. "Is it a _birthday present?"_ Kairi fiddled with her fingers, not sure how to respond to that guess. Selphie took her silence as a yes. "Is it for _meeeeee?"_ She asked even more excited than before. Kairi decided that to be a good point to shake her head. Selphie pouted. "Well I guess it's too early for my birthday, anyways …" Kairi let out a breath of air she didn't know she was holding. "Which means I get to see what's in it!"

"NO!" Kairi leapt into the air to pounce Selphie, but was too slow, the door had already opened, revealing Sora who was playing with some tights and using them as some sort of slingshot, using Leonardo as the ammo. Surprised, he let go of the fabric and the milk snake went flying into Selphie. The female brunette screamed.

"Get him off! Get him off!" The frightened snake had wrapped itself around her waist even tighter as she continued thrashing about. Both Kairi and Sora rushed over to help. She screamed even louder when Sora ran his claws to hold her still so Kairi could pry Leonardo off. "Get away!" The half-demon jerked away and Kairi's grip on the snake loosened.

"Selphie, you need to calm down!" Kairi chastised. She grabbed on to her friend's thin arms and held them firmly until she stopped wriggling in place and stared up at her friend with wide eyes, then at Sora. She gave him a clueless expression that wasn't flattering to either one.

"What is he?"

"Selphie!" Kairi gasped, she turned to Sora apologetically. "She doesn't mean that," she faced Selphie again. "Say you're sorry!"

"Ok, ok … _who_ the _hell_ is he?" She pointed at him as well, adding to her rudeness. Sora shrugged, not fazed by her reaction to him. He pointed at her, copying her movements exactly.

"Who the hell is she?" If Kairi weren't as emotionally stressed as she was at the moment, she probably would have laughed. He gestured to himself, bowing low to the ground. "I am Sora Daemon, Pumpkin Prince, at your service." He lifted his head and gave her a toothy grin. Selphie shrieked at the sight of his fangs. Sora scowled. "Kairi's a much better screamer than you are." He informed her. Selphie gaped.

"Rude or not, who is he and why is he here?" Selphie placed her hands on her hips, trying to appear brave. "There is no way Saint Nicholas knows…" Kairi then dropped to the ground in front of Selphie and hugged her legs desperately.

"Selphie,_ best friend_, please, you cannot, I repeat_, cannot_ tell grandpa about Sora! He'll forbid me to see him ever again!" Kairi wailed. Sora's eyes widened; he had not known about this little detail.

"And with good reason!" She eyed his wings distastefully. "Have you checked him out lately? There is no way he's from around here, and you know that only those who are from a Christmas Lineage are permitted to come here." Kairi buried her face in her friend's dress.

"Please….?" She murmured. Selphie stayed firm with clenched teeth and hands, darkened eyes flickering between the two teens. Her gaze then lingered to Sora who actually appeared lost, a blank expression spread across his bright blue eyes. Selphie's over worn hands loosened and then fell flat against her sides. She was just too nice sometimes.

"Well, would you mind telling me what in the world he is doing here? Nothing _dirty_ I hope…" Kairi ignored that last comment and beamed, hugging both Selphie and Sora together, both returning the hug.

"You may want to conjure up some snacks, this is going to take a bit to explain, Sora, feel free to jump in if I've missed anything …."

`'

"Well, sheesh, I was always wondering where it was you ran off to." Selphie sighed leaning against Kairi's bed. "No offense, but I could never picture you going out of your way to strangle rodents for Leonardo to eat." Sora was near the brink of a full stomach as he continued to sneak small bits of the pie that had shrunken considerably ever since he had gotten his claws into it. Kairi sat in her swivel chair, swinging it from side to side, keeping herself occupied, not used to staying in one place for so long.

"None taken," Kairi shrugged. She then rounded on Selphie. "You do realize you cannot tell anyone about this, as I said before." Selphie sighed, then nodded. "Good, because this is way more important than the spitting up on Wakka incident, time we skipped classes for sky diving and that time when you--." Selphie shushed her with a glare, eyes glancing at Sora. "My point is that this is a serious do not tell no matter what moment!"

Sora held out his hand. "Pinky swear?" Selphie gave Kairi a reproachable look and Kairi tilted her head, telling her to go for it. Selphie nodded then reached up cautiously and shook his gloved hand. Selphie then froze suddenly.

"Me telling won't be a problem anymore …" She whispered, looking very alarmed. Kairi, who had been facing her back to them to check on Leonardo who was on the computer monitor whirled around, wide-eyed.

"What-?" The door swung open and there stood a very disgruntled Santa Claus, dressed in red suspenders and a white, collared shirt. His worried expression quickly turned livid once he noticed Sora in the room.

"Kairi Namine Claus," Kairi shrunk in her seat where she sat. She was making a rather pathetic attempt to hide behind the back seat of her chair. "Who is this boy in your _bedroom_ and why is he not back in _Halloween Town_ and the rest of those … those hooligans from that insane asylum?" Kairi perked slightly.

"You know about Halloween To-?"

"What's your name, boy?" The old man rounded on Sora who stared back with a slight defiance to his eye. The demon stood.

"Sora Daemon," noticing how this didn't appear to make the man any happier he added a timid, "sir."

"Why are you here?" Saint Nicholas stood firm and his round hands curled into fists. Kairi was scared of her grandfather for the first time. "You, Selphie, why didn't you inform me of this?!" Selphie looked down at her shoes.

"Ah… I …"

"She only just found out like you-!" Kairi butted in, stepping in front of her friend. She hunched over when his glare turned to her.

"You've been seeing him for a while, haven't you." It wasn't a question. Kairi bowed her head, not completely sure why she felt ashamed.

"Yes, sir." He veered towards Sora and grabbed him by the ear. Kairi gasped and stood up, expecting Sora to attack, but he fell almost limp. She guessed that her grandfather probably used some magic to drain some of his strength. He then roughly pulled on Sora's ear and stormed out of the room at a determined pace. Kairi padded along, leaving a stunned Selphie and Leonardo by themselves. The old man looked over his shoulder, not faltering in his strut down the stairs.

"You should probably come, too, Kairi." Kairi, terrified of her grandfather, nodded and scampered after him. She found that she had lost her voice and felt embarrassed as eyes from all of those working in the shop were staring curiously. Some seemed to think unholy thoughts of the situation and giggle behind hands. Kairi was too stunned to correct anyone.

Santa continued to half drag the poor boy who was stumbling, not used to this sudden lack of strength, occasionally tripping as he half ran to keep up with his captor's pace. Kairi had to resist from holding on to Sora's hand to reassure him; she didn't want Santa Claus to do something that they both would regret. Her grandmother had gasped in horror when she saw the male adolescent and hurried away. Kairi was starting to feel suspicious of something that no one was telling her.

Like, how did her grandfather know about Halloween Town, anyways? And where was he taking Sora? At first she thought he was going to take him to his office, but he then stepped outside, not bothering to help the boy with his hood when he started hissing from the sun's rays. Sora flailed his arms pathetically, trying to reach for his hood. Kairi took pity and lifted his hood up for him, making sure it covered him properly. She shrunk away when her grandfather stared down at her disapprovingly. Kairi kept her gaze on the footprints made in the snow, one set half dragged, the other hard and firm. She looked up to notice they were heading toward the woods.

"Where are we going?" She asked tentatively. Her grandfather grunted.

"Halloween Town, I have a _bone _to pick." She didn't quite understand what her grandfather had meant by that, but if he was planning to go to Halloween Town, there was no way it was a good thing. She nodded and continued walking. The trees did not seem as inviting as before and almost seemed to be laughing at her from over head. Some appeared more bent over and ominous than before, resembling Halloween Town's trees, except that these are alive and coated with fresh snow.

They entered the clearing where the grouping of hallowed trees were circled. Her grandfather finally let go of Sora's ear. The demon fell to the ground from the release of tension to his head and rubbed his ear to ease the ache as it was now bright red. Santa Claus stepped up to the tree with the Jack' lantern. "This the tree?" Both teens nodded, not using words because Kairi was too frightened and Sora too weak. "Good." He then grabbed both teens by their arms and opened the door to the other world. The familiar winds of Halloween Town pulled them in and they fell through blackness as ghosts chortled at their arrival.

They landed in the graveyard, something neither of the teens were used to. Kairi wondered what had changed their landing. Was it the added weight, perhaps? Saint Nicolas did not wait for them to get back on their feet and began to storm through, vaguely careful to not step on any graves. Kairi and Sora hurried after him, exchanging worried looks.

Zero appeared, apparently waiting for Sora to return and yipped at the old man's feet, but was brushed away. The puppy disappeared, looking deeply hurt. He pressed through the gates that Kairi had never gone through, passing by some old beggars who were playing instruments previously, stopped to stare at them, bowing slightly at Sora. Sora seemed embarrassed for some reason. They followed the angry man through the streets, creatures all staring at them with confusion and curiosity. One actually jumped out to greet them.

"Sora!" A werewolf with silver hair appeared. His clothes fell in loose rags around his strong frame. Kairi recognized the boy as 'Riku' from Sora's descriptions. "Where've you been? You promised to go sparring later." He eyed Santa and Kairi. "Who's the old geezer – and was that the chick you were – ?"

"I'll explain later …" He replied in a hurried whisper, as the old man turned to him, threatening to grab a hold of his ear again. Kairi held on to Sora's hand, frightened of her grandfather. Sora did not pull away.

Kairi then realized they were headed to the winding tower that she had seen the skeletal man appear from when she had first arrived so many months ago. Others around her seemed to notice their direction as well, for their eyes would flutter from the trio to the mini castle. The gathering crowd was whispering amongst itself, wondering who she was, what Sora was doing with them and why "Sandy Claws" was back. "Sandy Claws?" Kairi murmured to herself. Sora turned to her and shrugged. Apparently he didn't know any "Sandy Claws" either. A ragdoll woman ran out of the castle, expecting only to see Sora, she dropped the basket she was carrying in surprise. Then nervously walked over to us.

"Oh, uh, dear …" Her large eyes flickered to Kairi's grandfather. "Is there a problem of some sort …?" She already knew the answer without the old man telling her.

"I would like to speak with the … director of this … _town."_ Kairi didn't appreciate her grandfather's tone with that last word. The woman nodded, ushering him in through the large doors. He nodded, and strutted through, seeming to know his way up the stairs. The strange woman glanced at the viewers, then escorted Kairi and Sora inside the house and shut the doors hastily.

"I'm assuming you disappearing all the time has something to do with this young girl?" She asked gently. Sora looked away so his face was not in view to Kairi and nodded. Her eyes widened then turned to Kairi with an apologetic expression. "I'm sorry, I have not yet introduced myself, have I? I am Sally Skellington." She extended her hand to shake. Kairi took it.

"Kairi Claus," Kairi introduced herself. "Pleasure to meet you." It actually was, dealing with all of the cold stares and her grandfather's cold shoulder it was nice to see a friendly face. Sally's large eyes widened at the use of her last name.

"Oh, I understand now …" She looked between the two teens then back up the stairs where Sants Claus had stormed up not too long ago. "You two have been dating each other for a while, is that what this is all about?" Kairi felt herself freeze up at that and when Sora was about to say something, she beat him to it.

"No! We're friends!" She could feel her cheeks heating up. "That's all…" Sally cast a knowing look to Sora then stood back, a bemused expression on her face.

"I see …" A crash from upstairs caused them all to jump, startled, angry yells that were muffled were evident. "I think we had better intervene." Kairi could tell she meant more so herself than Sora or her, but the two followed her up, anyways. Sally gave them both a warning look, then opened the door that shouts were coming from.

In the room stood the two leaders of the two favorite holidays of children all over the world; Santa Claus and Jack Skellington, both looking livid. Whatever it was they were going to say to each other, slipped their minds as their eyes fell to the two teenagers whom the squabble was about. "Sora, have you been bringing that girl here?" He asked it a dangerously low tone that frightened Kairi. She was too scared to be offended by his rude tone. Sally stared at her husband disapprovingly.

"Yes … sir," Sora used the same politeness he had used on her grandfather earlier. The Pumpkin King strutted up to the girl with a scowl. Kairi stiffened under his glare and he rounded around her, thinking hard to himself. He then suddenly jerked very close to her face, spread his mouth open and wide and with his fingers in his mouth to stretch it even further, roared. Kairi screamed. The three habitants of Halloween Town blinked, inwardly praising her gifted scream, while her grandfather pushed between the two and glared at the Pumpkin King.

"I won't be having that, now." He stated gruffly, shaking a tiny finger. The skeleton glowered back. "You leave my granddaughter alone, now." The skeleton's expression changed to a haughty one.

"Granddaughter?" He repeated. He turned to Sora. "You will be having no interaction with her anymore, understand!" Sora and Kairi's eyes widened in horror.

"Jack!" Sally cried. The man in the red suit grew angrier still.

"Kairi, he is not good enough for you to visit, he will not be in your room, he will not be in Christmas Town and you _certainly_ shall not be visiting this insane asylum!" Kairi fell to her knees in shock as if the wind was just knocked out of her. Sora looked ready to do the same.

"Not good enough for Sora?! Sora is too good for that wench!" Jack roared. Sally gasped and Kairi looked ready to burst into tears. Sora was a cross between crushed and anger. Kairi's grandfather then began with a fixed stare that the skeleton matched. Sora then turned to Kairi, holding her hands and leaning close to her. Her eyes widened, hoping he was going to do what she hoped he was. He then stopped, inches from her face, then flew away. Kairi could have sworn she heard faint sobs. She then sent a furious look to her grandfather.

"I hate you!" She screamed. The room quieted and her voice seemed to echo. Her grandfather turned to her with a sad expression that was extremely hurt. She then swelled her chest high and with her index finger, touched the tip of her nose, and using a Claus magic, whisked herself away where she soon found herself sobbing into a fluffed pillow with a confused Selphie at hand.


	5. Would This Count as Karma?

**I am soooooo sorry about the lateness in this update! I have been busy with finishing up with school and graduation and whatknot. Anyways, enjoy this chapter and sorry it is kind of short. There's a lot in it so maybe that will help even out the negativeness. And thank you for all of your supporting reviews! They make me so happy and determined to finish this piece. Just for the record, I'll be gone for seven weeks and I do not know if there will be internet where I am headed, so if there is no update in that period of time, you'll know why.**

**I WILL finish this story.**

"I have become a computer obsessie," Kairi mused to herself in her barricaded room. She had been playing on the computer nonstop for about three hours; which is more than she usually spends time on electronics in two weeks. She had joined up on an RPG site that had taken up her time as an obsession to curb her Sora-obsession.

After coming home on that horrid day which continued to play over and over in her mind, she had set up a mini elevator that would send up food to her when she wished. Just lower the rope and within the given time, a bell would be rung and she would just pull it all back up and have a meal. Her walk-in closet connected to her bathroom. With all of these necessities in place, she was planning on staying in there for a very long time.

Her grandmother had attempted and failed to retrieve her from her bedroom. Kairi's reasoning was that she was not coming out until she was given a full explanation of her grandfather's actions and why she was not allowed to visit Sora back in Halloween Town. Even if she weren't allowed there, she would only need to go once to set up a new meeting area, perhaps behind another one of those mysterious tree doors. The one with the heart looked cute.

She soon learned that her stubbornness was inherited from her grandfather as he refused any sort of interaction that would even hint at the essence of "that boy." The given name of Sora was "that boy" since her grandfather was being unreasonable and only calling him by noun, not name.

Then again, everyone else was calling her unreasonable as well and that locking herself up in her room was not going to solve anything. Kairi rationalized that it would; she would give her grandfather the guilt treatment and eventually he'll cave.

Shame not many plans work out that way.

As much as Santa Claus cared for her and tried to speak with her from the mini-elevator that delivered her meals, he refused to change his mind. Using _A Beginner's Guide to Spells_, which is usually given to novice High Elves (like Selphie) she set up an invisible barrier around her doors and windows. Once an elf tried to come up through the elevator, but was frightened by Leonardo who had tried to bite the elf. No one was willing to harm the snake who had taken on an "attack dog" personality and gave up.

Kairi lazily turned to her DVD collection, tired of playing online and flipped through the selection. She didn't feel like watching anything, but what else could she do? Simply to say, she was extremely bored. A part of her wanted to go and invite Selphie, but that would show weakness and Selphie would most likely start to hound on her about what an idiot she was and that she was overreacting.

She had said it before, after all. Kairi furrowed her brows. To most she was overreacting, and she most likely was not handling the situation in the most orderly fashion, but what else could she do? The elves were all on high alert and even the gates of Christmas Town were being guarded at that moment to prevent anyone leaving or entering.

And what was the deal with not allowing her to hang out with her friend? She happened to _like _him! She flushed. For some reason she found that the longer she stayed away from him, the more he seemed to be festering in her mind. He had a hold on her and was not letting go.

Kairi put down her video case and wheeled her chair toward her large windows that opened up to the outside, giving her a view of all of Christmas Town. She stood up and with a sigh, pressed her face up against the glass. Figures of people, elves, and other living creatures playing in thick snow came into view, all having a joyful manner to their activities. She doubted any of them were separated from their friends. Kairi twirled to face her back to the playing citizens, it reminded her of the time Sora had introduced leaf piles to her and how you can have fun jumping into them.

At that moment, a knocking sound on her closed window caught her attention. Kairi hesitantly crept toward her window where, oddly, a small letter was hovering. Feeling agitated, she pressed her face against the glass, eyeing it distastefully. _No doubt a letter from grandfather._ She thought dejectedly. She was about to take down her curtains, when she noticed that no golden seal was present on the letter. All letters from the Claus family and all of the High Elves had golden seals present to show which were the First class letters in the mail. She opened her window, and reached out, receiving a hard gust of winter wind which blew in the letter.

She shut the window hurriedly and tentatively bent down to pick of the letter. Now up close, she was able to tell that it was made of rather loose papyrus that was easy to fall apart. She slipped her finger into the opening and opened the envelope and pulled out a note. Her eyes widened at the material written.

_Kairi_

_Don't ask how, but I am waiting in the ballroom. Meet me there as soon as you can!_

_~ Sora_

Kairi gaped at the paper in shock, and immediately tapped her hand to her nose, thankful for the ability of transportation that all in the Claus line possess. She disappeared from her room in a flash and found herself behind the large piano that was propped up against the wall. She peered from behind, rather confused to find no one present. Yes, nobody that lived here would be in this room since it will be a while until this room will be required, but she expected Sora! Kairi turned to the ceiling, half expecting him to be up there, planning to surprise her later. Nothing but glass paintings of small cupids and clouds.

A large box caught her eye. Images of many stories and movies of boys popping out of various objects to surprise their girlfriends flashed before her eyes. With a tiny giggle she strutted up to the box. "Hm …" She sighed loudly. "What is this doing here?" She could have sworn she heard something from within the box. "Let's see …" She easily pulled on the lid and lifted it up. "Sora! I-!"

She stopped herself. An older man with a goatee and short, spiked hair rose from within. His face was long and pale and had a devilish look to it. He was dressed in a red three piece suit and it appeared as if some small horns were growing on his high forehead. He flashed her a toothy grin. "Good evening, princess." His tone was mocking.

"Who-who are you?!" Kairi demanded, almost tripping over her feet as she backed away. He took a large step out of the crate toward the red head.

"You can call me an a_cquaintance_ of Sora's …." He emphasized on "acquaintance" made Kairi frowned. Suspicion etched on her face.

"You know Sora…?" She murmured. The man shrugged and leapt forward. Kairi screamed, but was immediately muffled by another. Long, thin fingers with frighteningly long nails clamped over her mouth, gagging her with a cloth. A woman with a hooked nose and stringy hair cackled quietly. She murmured some nonsense words in a slight tune and Kairi felt her body go numb. She could not move!

"You know, I can see why The Prince would like such a pretty face like you …" The woman cupped her chin and tilted her head to both sides, getting a good look at her captive. "Such looks wasted …" Kairi's attempts to wriggle out of their hold were useless as her strength seemed to be sapped from her.

"Hee … told ya so …" Another voice cackled, revealing a skeletal man who looked as if he were undead. His small curls were frizzed and were much less appealing than the other man. "Guy has good taste." He giggled again. The woman rolled her eyes, muttering "moron" under her breath and levitated Kairi to the man with the goatee. He hoisted Kairi over his shoulder and nodded to the woman.

With a flash, they were gone, taking poor Kairi with them.

Kairi immediately recognized the dead, bare trees and grey skies and murky rivers when her eyes adjusted. She had been taken to Halloween Town! Perhaps they were taking her to Sora after all …but would it kill them to be a little gentler? She would have liked to ask them, but could not move and therefore, could not speak. They turned in the opposite direction, however, from Sora's large home, and instead detoured to another winding castle that appeared as if it would fall apart any given moment. A small elevator that appeared as if it could hold three children filled a hole in a tiny bridge. All in all, it was not in good shape.

How the little wooden planks on the bridge were holding them was beyond her as they marched into the house that smelled of rotting wood and mold. A large mail slot was the first thing that came into her vision, then large knives, kettles, mouse traps and dead animals also came into view. An old, empty bath tub, also sat rather randomly in the middle of the room. Kairi noticed feeling come back into her body after a moment and fell to the floor. The three figures peered at her as she lay sprawled on the ground. "Where's … where's Sora?" She asked.

"He'll be coming …" The taller man revealed yellowing teeth. Kairi cringed at the sight.

"Do you know when?" The woman groaned, becoming impatient with the clueless girl. The woman grabbed her by the roots of her hair and pulled back hard, forcing her to look up. Kairi kicked up her leg, in desperation and hit her in the kidney. She let go instantly and fell to the ground, clutching herself. The same numbness as before came over Kairi and she collapsed to the ground. The round man peered down at her.

"He'll be coming …" He the laughed in cruel hysterics. The older man sat up on a desk on propped his head in his hands.

"Let's give her to the Master for now …" With that, Kairi found herself being lifted up once more. The woman and rounder man opened up the nozzle to the entrance to the tube and slid easily inside. Her feeling returned once more and before she could do anything else, she was shoved down and slid on, into the cavern that belonged to a very dark being.

She landed ungracefully on a hard surface, which she soon realized was a metal table. Ropes came to life and pulled her arms behind herself and tied her arms together. A low laugh echoed throughout the large, dark room. "So you're the little doll face everyone's been talkin' about." Kairi looked around desperately, searching for the person who created the sound.

"M-me?" She asked tentatively.

"Don't give yourself too much credit, as far as I can see, all there is to you is that face of yours …" She flinched as bright lights turned on and she appeared to be in a room that resembled a large casino. She shivered, still unable to identify her captor. A rag appeared from no where. It was very tall and was checkered red and white, but musky in color and material. It had a round head and a dent for eyes and a mouth. "Do you know who I am, little girl?" She shook her head no.

The figure leaned back and laughed again. "That explains somethin'!"

"Where am I?" She asked in a small voice, trying to wriggle her hands free.

"You don't know where you are?" Kairi shook her head no. "I'll tell you, you're in a lot of trouble that's where." He leaned forward so she lay on her back on the table. "I am Oogie Boogie." Kairi gulped loudly. "Yes," he stood up straight. "You're probably wondering 'but how? That fly guy is dead!' I know I'm right!" Actually, Kairi had never heard of him, but seeing her current situation she decided to say nothing that could possibly upset this _thing_. "It's all thanks to those subordinates of mine, found one of my bugs that, that damn Jack Skellington forgot to get rid of." This caught her attention.

"Jack Skellington? As in, the Pumpkin King?" The rag-monster scrunched up his face.

"Don't say that name; _Pumpkin King_ is hardly a fitting name!" He grabbed her by the rope that was holding her hands together. He lifted her up angrily and held her arms above her head. She wriggled her wrapped up legs, but they were too tight to loosen. Oogie Boogie hung her up on a coat hanger attached to the wall. "That no good Jack Skellington tried to kill me," he sniffed loudly at that. "And all that Lock could find was this old rag to use to contain all my bugs." He pulled at the material. Kairi wrinkled her nose.

"Bugs?" He opened his mouth and a snake in place of a tongue hissed at her. Her eyes widened and she screeched. He laughed.

"Oh, now I'm seeing why that pipsqueak likes you, you have a wonderful scream!" He cupped her chin. "I may just end up keeping you instead …" He smelled of something putrid. "I'll kill off the pipsqueak and keep you; what a dreadful idea!" He cackled.

"No!" Kairi wailed. "Please, don't!" His laughter was upset her further.

"You're too funny, doll face, just like Sandy Claws …" He said with a thoughtful expression. _Sandy Claws? Did he mean …?_

"You mean my grandfather?" She asked hoarsely. How did he know him? Her grandfather has never been in Halloween Town before that time he met up with the Pumpkin King, right? "How do you know him?!" Oogie Boogie stopped.

"Grandfather? You mean that ugly, old guy is related to you?" Kairi nodded slowly. "Tell me, is he still kickin'?"

"Uh, yes …"

"Haha! This works out even better! He'll blame it on Jack, no doubt! And with the pipsqueak--ooh! It'll be a full blown war! How dreadful, indeed!" Kairi gaped. A war? Why would such measures be taken? "It's quite fun to manipulate minds like theirs. They all have one-track minds, they do." Kairi wriggled again; she was losing circulation in her arms.

"I don't understand … have Jack Skellington and my grandfather met before?" Oogie lifted her up and carried her from the coat hanger.

"Yeah, the old coot once almost had his holiday taken from him; Jack was losing inspiration and tried to take over Christmas!" Kairi stared. How come she had never heard of this? Surely this couldn't have happened too long ago, right? "It was about twenty years ago. Not long after, my subordinates found my one remaining insect and bound me to this rag! Mm-mm! Revenge is sweet!" He cackled. "They really are stupid, they even fell for my trap when I kidnapped the old coot's wife!"

"You did what?!"

"Yeah, he came storming into Halloween Town and thought that Jack did it. I then decided to spice things up and took Ms. Sally away… that rag doll tried to escape several times, but I had her contained. Witches are mighty handy with them's magic." Kairi took this all in.

"They … blamed each other?" She asked tentatively. Oogie Boogie hoisted her up on a chair and brought her arms around in front of her. He then grabbed some rope and bound her to the chair at her arms, waist and legs.

"Yeah, them buggers didn't even register the idea of them being played, too angry with the other, rather funny, actually." He screwed up his face in annoyance as he lifted her up and connected her to a hook hanging from the ceiling. "I would have kept them longer but that fumbling idiot, Barrel slipped up and suspicion arose that I may be back-I had Shock and Lock do a mind wipe and let the ladies go." He walked away onto a control platform and the rope holding her rose into the air. It then moved across the room and lowered rather close to a boiling toxin. Kairi gagged at the fumes. "Nobody knows I'm back and I'm gonna keep it that way, then I can do my work without interruption!" He faced the girl. "Now don't get comfortable, doll face!"

Kairi bit back a "don't worry, I won't" as a retort and instead looked away determinedly. Her eyes then popped open in realization at what Oogie Boogie had indirectly been saying all along. "Wait-Sora? Where's Sora?!" He now had her full attention and her cerulean eyes were filled with panic. The monster turned back toward the captive girl.

"He ain't here, yet, girlie." He shrugged. "But it won't take long … since he's going to have quite the," he gave her a rather perverted once over. "_Motivation …"_ Kairi shivered involuntarily. She soon concluded a moral that could have been used at the beginning of this chapter ….

…… Hiding from the problem at hand is not the way to come to a solution.


	6. Listen to Your Girlfriend, it Might Help

**Sorry that this will be a little short compared to my other chapters, oh well. I'm finding myself rushing a bit, wanting to get this one over with. Yes, I am still into this. I just happen to be a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to these things and I happen to want to finish this very badly--my first ever multi-chapter story that I'll have completed. **

**Keep your fingers crossed! I am determined to get the next chapter up soon (though it will be hard). Enjoy and please pity Sora (you'll see why at the end of this chapter)!**

Sora's nose twitched as a surprisingly familiar scent came to his nostrils. He furrowed his brows and bent low to the ground, trying to pinpoint where he had smelt it before. He was at the edge of the graveyard, just before the forest. He had taken to having daily walks where he would spend most of his time lounging about where he and Kairi used to meet. He inhaled deeply.

_Pine and vanilla eggnog …_

Yes, that is exactly what he smelt at the moment! But where on earth could it have come from? These sorts of scents were only common in Christmas Town. He had learned that on his last visit when he had mistakenly gone to visit Kairi… His eyes widened.

Kairi!

This was Kairi's scent! He flushed darkly, immediately aroused. He shook his head, inwardly cursing Riku for putting perverted thoughts into his head.

Why was this here anyways? Another thought came to mind. _This is fresh!_ But that couldn't be … could it? Why would Kairi's scent be here if she is not present, since obviously they aren't allowed to see one another any more, so how could she possibly-- a grin spread across his face.

"KAIRI!" He cupped his hands over his mouth and flew up into the air to get a better view. "YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!!!!" He happily perched on a high branch of a tree, imagining the little red head to come out, hugging him tightly, with her adorable squeal telling him just how much she missed him. Sadly, no one came. He continued to sit, puzzled for a moment. Why wasn't she coming?

Slightly suspicious, he bent down to where he had smelt her before, to double check. No doubt, it was her. He inhaled deeper. His eyes widened. There were others present as well! What would Kairi be doing with a bunch of people? Was she leading some sort of field trip? What on Earth for? He found himself fully alert. That was very unKairiish. Sora stood up fully, pupils narrowing into slits that transformed into an aggressive worry. His wings flapped hard against the air and lifted him off the ground to go scouting for the girl he had mixed emotions for. All of his senses were directed to the semi recent smell of Kairi that was not alone. Surely the Pumpkin King had done nothing to harm her.

His suspicions grew as the trail led him through town. He ignored the friendly hellos from the citizens, even though one of them was Riku. The silver werewolf huffed, strong arms folded over one another crossly. "What's _his _problem?" His tail swished in agitation and he stalked off.

Sora continued his way through the air, a new found determination as the trail led him outside of Halloween Town. Why would Kairi be all the way over here? It didn't add up. Was it possible that someone had gotten to her? He sped up his pace at that horrifying thought. His eyes narrowed as the old castle that he had been warned as a child not to enter; that's where an old grouchy man, called Oogie Boogie used to live until the Pumpkin King had gotten to him. He flew over the gate and landed softly on the rocky pathway that led to a rickety old bridge.

With raised brows he walked rather hurriedly over where a small, cage-like elevator sat in the open. Should he go in it? He curiously stuck his head inside. He saw no leverage … He furrowed his brows and took his head out. He investigate on his o-

"Please stop it!" His eyes widened. He whirled around, expecting somebody to be telling him off for entering private property (despite the fact that he technically had some power because of his current status). No one was around. There were _not _voices in his head. Someone had screamed. "Let me _go!"_ He turned back toward the house. Yes, it was _definitely_ coming from inside there!

A very strong scent suddenly came into his consciousness. "Kairi!" He whispered hoarsely. A small, barred window below the bridge caught his eye. He squinted his eyes and lowered himself so he could get a good look inside. His eyes widened at what he saw.

There was a strange, checkered figure that he had never seen before in his life, cackling in a deep voice at the young girl's antics. Kairi was bound to a wall by a leverage which was fastened around her arms that were tied behind her back. Her lip and teeth had a small amount of blood dripping onto her chin which explained to Sora why her scent had suddenly increased for him to notice her. Why had she bitten herself like that? The baggy figure then rounded up to her and grabbed one of her legs. She squirmed and flailed both of her legs. The figure pulled out a remote control and typed in a code. Another bar flipped out from the metal floor and wrapped itself around her ankles.

He then bent low to get a good look at her leg like he intended to. "Now as I was saying before I was _interrupted."_ He draped his hand up her leg from her shin to her thigh. "These are some nice legs, doll face," he then reached to cup her chin, then pulled away, not wanting to touch her blood. He redirected himself to her leg, pretending that he was never ruffled. "Let's say we find some things we can do with them, eh?" Kairi paled visibly, even from the distance that Sora sat at. The figure then leaned toward her foot and lightly grazed across it. She wriggled where she sat.

He turned back toward her, pleased. "Does that tickle, doll face?" She shook her head no. Sora gripped the bars in anger, trying to stay calm and analyze the situation. This was beginning to turn into something lecherous. But he needed to think up a plan.

Not liking her answer, he then rubbed his hand against the bottom of her shin. "How about here, doll face?" She had less of a squirm than before but her wide eyes gave away her growing panic. His hand moved up a little above her knee. He squeezed and she jerked slightly, he having touched a pressure point. He then moved to her thigh her eyes widened even farther. Sora paid no heed to the bars bending beneath his grasp. The baggy man then began to reach under her skirt. "How about-?"

Sora was well aware of the fact that he probably should have thought out his actions before deciding to barge in, but watching that there, made his blood boil! Wings opened to their fullest, he blew open the bars so they went flying to the ground. Claws curled into a fist as he rammed himself right into the offender who dared to attack _his_ precious Kairi. The old goat bag went flying. Sora hissed loudly as a violent aura surrounded him. _Yes,_ a new possessiveness overcame him.This girl was definitely his forever, and there was absolutely no way he was about to let this guy get it on with her. None. He heaved loudly and bent down, claws ripped through his gloves and he slashed open the bars that contained the girl as if they were nothing. His eyes glowed crimson.

Kairi whimpered, frightened by this new side of her friend. He turned to face her and their eyes locked. His eyes flickered between their normal blue color and back to his current state. His eyes hardened as they fell to her bloodied lip. They remained red. He reached behind her and tore her away from the bindings that held her arms together. He pulled her close to him. "Hold on," he rasped. Kairi nodded and flung her arms around his neck.

The baggy man, stood up from where he had landed and faced the two teens. "You dare to attack Oogie Boogie?!" He roared, puffing up his chest. Sora faltered.

"Oogie Boogie? He's dead!" He argued, doubt laced in his voice. The description that was given to him of the criminal was much different. For starters, he was a pale green color, and this guy looked like a picnic table! Not to mention this guy was incredibly thin, too thin.

"Hah! That's what they told you, eh?" He laughed. "I'm sure once you two are quieted little doll face here can explain it all to you." Kairi's grip tightened on Sora. "After all, I'm not in the habit of repeating myself." _Yes you are!_ Kairi thought. "Too bad you came," he snickered. "Me and doll face over there were about to-!" Sora rushed at him again, Kairi hanging onto him for her own sake. His claws extended in front of him, this time, Oogie Boogie was ready.

The monster jumped away, onto a platform and pulled a lever. The ground that Sora stood on pulled sucked into the walls, revealing lava. Sora leapt into the air, wings flapping wildly. Oogie Boogie cursed. "Dang, I ain't used to workin' with fliers." He cursed to himself. Oogie Boogie then puffed himself up like a toad. Sora flew toward him at high speeds, intending to punch him again. Oogie Boogie blew them away with a roar. Sora and Kairi tumbled through the air, clinging to one another. Sora shielded the two as they crashed into a wall.

"Sora, I really think we shouldn't be …" Kairi trailed off as Sora roared and lunged at her previous captor once again, feet propelled, planning to kick him away. "Getting out of here should be our main priority …" Sora paid no heed to her reasoning, blinded by his rage, slashing at the sack of bugs. Oogie Boogie laughed again, pulling another lever where skeletal bionics popped out from the wall, each holding an actual gun. Kairi screamed.

"Music to my ears!" Oogie Boogie cackled. He waved down to the robots. "Fire!" A chorus of gun shots sounded as Sora desperately tried to avoid them all. He twisted and jerked awkwardly through the air to avoid the bullets that pelted at him from odd angles. He hissed as one grazed his left wing when he attempted to get near Oogie Boogie. Kairi wailed for Sora's sake as an alarming large amount of blood jetted out from the wound. Sora flapped his wings desperately, panting hard as another bullet soared _through_ his wing. His flight pattern became uneven and he could feel his weight tilt to one side.

He failed to hear Kairi's screams. Nor did he notice that the ammo ran out or that the floor reappeared.

_"Sora! Stay awake! SORA!!!"_

He shook his head furiously, now able to think straight, despite the agonizing pain in his one wing. He folded the useless one up, then wrapped his second around Kairi to envelope her. His sharp eyes noted the now present ground. He needed to rest, but he had no time…

Oogie Boogie then puffed out his chest again, Sora and Kairi braced themselves, expecting him to attacking them with air currents once again. Instead, a giant shout emitted from his throat. _"Lock! Shock! Get down here!!!"_

At once, two of the figures that had originally taken Kairi away appeared, each grinning broadly, happy to be of service. The female of the two immediately took note of the situation and raised her arms. Sora could no longer feel his body as paralysis came over him. His body levitated in the air, unable to resist. The same thing apparently was happening to Kairi. _She is a witch!_ Sora realized in alarm. Oogie Boogie stalked over to the older woman. "What can I say, having a witch on the team is the only way to go when dealing with anybody with _demon_ blood."

The three lackeys cackled at his comment. Oogie Boogie then walked over to Sora, eyeing him teasingly. "You think you can pull one over on ol' Boogie? Think again! I have this place wired and more brains than you'll ever have! Scrawny punk!" He then punched the demon/vampire mix and sent him flying. Kairi tried to call out to him, but was unable to work her jaw to get any sound out. "Oh don't blame me!" He laughed. "Blame your elders-hah! That's who you can thank for this! It's their fault!" He turned to Lock and Shock. "Tie them up, but drain them--don't want another escape plan."

He then sniffed and turned, disgusted where Sora lay unmoving. "And clean up that mess he's making," he shook his hand at the puddle of blood collecting around him. "It's goin' to stain!" They nodded together as he stalked off. Sora and Kairi both felt feeling come back into their bodies, except having barely enough energy to life themselves off of the ground.

Sora clenched his teeth together. The feeling of pain had come back to his wing. "Eergh …!" He moaned in pain. _This sucks! _Kairi attempted to sit up, bending at her elbows, but collapsed back on to the ground in a heap. She glared at the witch.

Lock bent down and picked up the girl under his arm and tied her up once again, this time having her tied to a table top with her arms and legs spread apart. Kairi wriggled in his grasp but did not prevail in any sort of escape. Shock levitated the adolescent boy above herself then tied him down to another metallic table next to Kairi, tying him up in the same manner. She applied an ointment as well. When he eyed her suspiciously she added;

"Boss does not want any stains from dirty blood." She sneered. She whipped away when Sora lashed out with bared fangs. Lock smirked at his reaction, turning back to his own duties of cleaning up the mess created by Sora, mop and bucket in hand. He sloppily draped it over, and knocked over the water and soap bucket. Shock rolled her eyes. "Ergh … let me do it!" She elbowed him aside and with a wave of her hand, it was like the mess was never there. The older man shrugged. "You can start on dinner." He scowled, and took off through the window that Sora ever so kindly had decided to break through earlier. Shock scoffed. "I'm going to have to fix that up, too." She glared at Sora. "This is all _your_ fault."

Kairi jumped in for Sora's defense. "N … no it's not." Her voice was loud, but weak. The older woman laughed, her footsteps heavy as she stared down at the younger red head.

"Not his fault? Dare I ask why do you think you are here?" Kairi stayed silent. She really did not know--from Oogie Boogie's earlier comment, she had assumed it had something to do with her grandfather. That made the most sense to her! "That little brat," she gestured to Sora's leering expression, "is the reason as to why you are here." Kairi was not buying it.

"No! That deranged moron already explained to me what happened many years ago with my grandfather! I fail to see what any of this has to do with Sora and it being his fault--he certainly was not around at the time!" Kairi argued.

"The brat fancies you, see?" Kairi blinked, unfazed, whereas Sora turned bright pink, avoiding either female's gaze.

"'Fancies'?" Kairi turned to get an explanation out of Sora, only receiving view of the back of his spiky hair. She turned back to the bounds of stringy hair. She had never heard of the term before. "O…kay."

The witch rolled her eyes, unhappy with not receiving the reaction she wanted. She tried again. "He digs you! He has the hots for you! What are you daft?!" Kairi continued to stare blankly, but the wheels were turning. "He _likes_ you." Shock rasped in disbelief at how naïve and oblivious this girl was. Wasn't this role supposed to go to the boy?

"And I like him, too. What's the big deal?" Shock blinked several times, turned to Sora with an almost pitying expression and disappeared behind a purple cloud of smoke. Silence over took the room. "Geez you'd think she could come up with something better to talk about than our relationship status." Kairi muttered.

Sora, with an immensely bruised ego found it best not to respond.


	7. Many Block Heads Make Hard Work

"Who the hell are _you?"_ Selphie felt herself tense immediately, when an annoyed voice called out to her. She knew very well that she was not supposed to be where she was – but who could blame her? Kairi was pulling a major temper tantrum, and even though she was overreacting and could take the whole situation from a different angle, Selphie felt that a chat should be brought up with that long-distant boyfriend of hers who she adores so much. She had to do something to help her friend, right? Why else would she be here in this strange land looking for someone she only met once? She should be brave, like Kairi!

"Don't hurt me!"

Oh yeah, real brave.

A shaggy figure towered over her and leaned forward so that his face would come into better view, revealing a human face that had a slight snout and short fur covering his face. He wore a lose yellow, collared shirt with the collar turned up and ripped, denim shorts. His clawed feet were bare. She shivered beneath his curious gaze. "Me hurt you?" He found the idea humorous. "Not to fear, I don't fight girls." Selphie turned back to him, heat streaming back to her cheeks realizing how ridiculous she was acting. "So, I'll ask again, who are you?"

"S-Selphie." She curtsied. He backed up awkwardly as she watched her actions.

"Riku," He grabbed the sides of his baggy shorts and mimicked her actions. She burst out laughing. She shook her head no.

"No, that's what girls do, you bow!" She bent forward to show him and he stared at her.

"Why would I do that? That looks stupid." She straightened out and glared at him.

"It's the _polite_ thing to do when you meet somebody!" She told him, her annoyance rising.

"Still looks stupid. When I meet someone, I just introduce myself without any physical motions and then we just have small talk." He shrugged, seating himself on the ground. "Nothing _polite_ about it." He used air quotes around the word "polite". Selphie sat herself down as well.

"Well you don't have to be biased against me just because I have a different way of communicating with people!"

"You're the one critiquing my attempts at 'bowing'!"

`8'

Kairi was gone. That was all that she needed to know to alert the entire campus. Aerith was beginning to wonder if she had made a mistake from the way that Santa Claus was pacing in his office, waiting for word from anyone about his granddaughter, as well as the young High Elf who it appeared had disappeared a short time afterwards. Perhaps accompanying the girl, or trailing her? Either way none of them have been heard from in a long period of time and anxiety was beginning to rise within everyone's stomach as the already stressed Saint Nicholas was beginning to grow in anger and frustration.

Her head popped up with the creaking of the door and a small elf walked in timidly, perhaps worried that he may end up on the receiving end of his boss's anger and worry. A chair scraped against wooden floor and creaked as a heavy weight was lifted from it. "Well?" drawled a heavy, deep voice. The young elf gulped audibly and the High Elf immediately sent her regards silently to the poor fellow.

He shuffled as he pulled out a letter and with shaking hands, he began to read. "I-it ap-p-p-pears that someone had c-c-ame into L-l-lad-dy Kairi's bed-droom f-five hours ago. Her ware-a-abouts have been unkn-nown since then. From the looks of it, i-it seems that a cloaking s-s-spell had been c-c-c-casted be an experienced … something." The elf's squeaky voice stopped for a moment so he could gather himself. "The type of magic found did not appear to belong to any species that I know of, but is at the same "level" of that of a High Elf." Santa Claus leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard, eyes blazing.

"I bet it was that hooligan, Sora, little demon child has his claws on my Kairi. Anyone in cahoots with that Jack-!"

"On the contrary, sir, it is not possible, his remnants have not been here since, well, when you caught him and Lady Kairi together, we have checked for his scent and DNA over her room. There was nothing. And even then, the magic used was not even by a male of any sort, but, in fact, a woman." This seemed to surprise the man in the big red coat, so that he sat back in his chair, wide eyed.

"You don't say…"

She felt it was time for her to speak up. "Sir, if I may speak?" He nodded affirmative. "I find this whole ordeal rather trying of both yours and Kairi's energies and feel that the two of you should make up and I also have the feeling that she would be found in the perfect place for the two of you to resolve her problems." His eyes narrowed.

"You don't mean to tell me that-."

"Yes, she is in Halloween Town, I can feel it, besides the fact that we found a large smell of blood-not Kairi's, I assure you," she added once seeing the look on Santa Claus's face. "With hints of the same smell that Mrs. Claus had when she was taken back from the clutches of Jack Skellington." A large crash resounded to the desk that now lay on its side, Saint Nicholas was standing.

"Do you mean to tell me that that skeleton has _kidnapped_ my_ granddaughter?!_ That _heathen!"_ He rasped. He took off running, crashing through the glass window and landing heavily on his feet on the snowy streets of Christmas Town. Aerith flinched at the sound of his landing and several yelps that could be heard by elves passing by. She sighed deeply and waved her arm across the air. As she did that, the stained glass picked itself up and put itself together.

"I had better follow him, incase he ends up doing something he regrets." She snapped her fingers. An elf immediately popped up. "Tell the Madame of the situation and where her granddaughter and husband are." The elf stepped back, alarmed.

"Eh? But--!"

"Please!" Aerith rounded on the elf with a look of desperation that he failed to recognize. "That was a direct order!" She then vanished with a small pop. The elf then bowed and muttered a quick "yes", then disappeared as well, leaving the office empty.

`8'

"J_AAAAA_-ACK!" A voice roared in an air that shook the ground and those within range were rattled as well. A scurry of ravens shot into the air and rodents scattered, adding to the effect. Santa Claus stood in the midst of Halloween Town, furious as can be. "GET OUT HERE!!!"

Aerith, who had accompanied him, cringed with each shout that he made. This really was not the way to go about things; it could be solved in a peaceful manner. This yelling is only bound to make the skeleton even more mad, right? A woman made of rags appeared from a high tower, a rather worried and anxious expression spread across her face. Her large eyes widened even more when she saw who it was, shouting at their door.

A furious skeleton (whom she assumed to be Jack Skellington), glided down to the ground, holding the Ragedy Anne-like woman, and landed lightly on the ground. His gracefulness did not meet his expression.

It did not take long for the two to be brought up in an argument over the two missing teens. It seemed that only the females in the area, decided to put the pieces together, when both parties were denying to have captured the demon or the red head.

"Jack!" Sally interrupts, placing a calming hand on him. "Mr. Sandy-Claws, do neither of you think it's possible that somebody else could have been involved in the supposed kidnapping of the children?" The two pause, obviously not too keen on the idea that they could possibly be wrong.

Awkward glances are shared.

Aerith decided to put in her two cents. "With all of the yelling going about," she says softly. "I wouldn't be surprised if they were to try and run away."

However, none seemed to believe that as a possibility either, since no one wanted to admit that their kid could possibly want to run away from home. That would be irresponsible.

When the question was then posed on who could possibly want something with them, the Pumpkin and Father Christmas exchanged horrified expressions.

"You don't think …?"

"Are those children still around?"

They then dashed off in a hurry, Sally and Aerith stumbling behind them.


	8. Pretty Much the Snake's Fault

**Wow, it's been about two years since my last update. I am so sorry it's taken so long. If it makes you all feel better, though, I did some edits for prior chapters so they're slightly better and have less grammatical errors and have had some scene adjustments. Past and present tense (which I have sadly continued to flipflop with) have not been corrected so ignore that.**

**For those of you who have stuck with this and have continued to watch/review/whatever, thank you. I appreciate your dedication and loyalty. **

**So enjoy, I'm not going to bother with excuses, cause I feel that would be a waste of my typing abilities, and your reading time. I'd like to think that this chapter would be of far further interest.**

**So without further ado: enjoy 3**

At this point, the shouts had died down and she had her focus on one thing only. She had always wondered how his hair had managed to stay in its gravity-defying condition. She was more than shocked to find his hair soft to the touch. After this discovery she had been continuously stroking his hair, in a slight trance. Kairi grazed her fingers through his hair, slowly making her way to the roots. She mentally appreciated his thick hair, as she slowly moved her hands to the base of his neck. She traced her finger around his hairline, trailing her fingers away from each other, stopping when her hand reached his left temple. She did not want to touch the recently formed gash.

She bent over to the point where she could feel her breath radiate against Sora's chin. She tilted her head to the side, just to check that he was still breathing. After a moment's wait, a rush of warm air softly stroked her in reassurance. She shyly lay her lips to the side of his jaw, then retracted herself so she was once again sitting up straight.

She slowly repositioned her body, one hand holding Sora's head delicately, whilst her other hand supported the rest of her body. She was tired, and wanted Aerith and the woman called Sally to return with the stitches. At this point it was a given that he would end up needing them.

Leonardo hisses in her ear, allowing her to take a deep breath, not having realized until then just how tense she was. She lifts her hand to stroke the snake and Sora's unconscious form grunts slightly. Even the slightest drop in warmth seemed to irritate him.

She hushed him softly, stroking his face after giving her pet some attention. His short moans stilled and a slight smile grazed his face.

Despite knowing that none of this was her fault, guilt did well up inside of her as she could not draw her attention away from his damaged head. She hoped nothing would be permanent.

_Oogie Boogie grins impishly at the two teens. "Do you like games?"_

_Neither answered, knowing anything he had in store for them would be good. Chances are, it would be worked against them. The moving sack pouted mockingly._

_"Aw… And here I was hoping that I would have some new friends to play with." He claps his hands together, and Lock loosens Kairi's shackles from the wall and hands them over to Oogie Boogie's grasp. "Silly me."_

_Sora's eyes don't leave the two as the young girl warily follows where Oogie Boogie guides her. Her violet eyes dance around in a calculating manner. _If we move several steps to the left, I can hook my chain around the lever and the moving abrasions would rip his arms off … to the right several yards is a pit, and if I can somehow keep myself up … _Her upper body strength limited what she could do._

_Dejectedly she stole a glance to her demon friend, knowing well how useless she was in the situation. If only it were Sora being dragged around in chains, then he would be strong enough to evade his take and do something. She sighs. It sucked to be able to come up with a plan, yet not be able to execute it._

_"What's wrong, dollface?" She ignores the antagonist's jab._

Stay calm … _She chided herself. _This man is obviously insane, and you do not want to do anything to upset him. _He was a ticking time bomb waiting to burst._

_"Hmph." He turns around to face her. She tenses immediately. She didn't have to look around to practically feel Sora crouching down, despite not being capable of breaking his bonds. "This is where you're supposed to say 'on no, Mr. Oogie Boogie, I'm just worried for my poor little half breed of a friend.'" She glares at his imitation over her voice. "'You see, he won't be able to live with himself once I'm dead'."_

_Sora hisses behind them._

_Kairi tenses, a strike of fear crossing over her face._

_The four captors laughed at their reactions._

_Sora tilts his neck over. "If you so much as scratch her I'll…"_

_"What?" Shock laughs from her stance. "Chew your hand off to break yourself free so you can avenge her?" She throws her head back in laughter. The others do likewise._

_"You'll die from shock and blood loss." Barrel teeters where he sits. "Besides, I doubt you have the drive to do so, anyways."_

_Sora began snarling again. More laughter was directed toward his frantic wriggling. He was just as weakened as Kairi, with more bruises to boot. Kairi wanted to cry as she watched her friend struggle pitifully. Lock yawned and eyed Oogie Boogie imploringly._

"_I'm bored. Are you sure I'm not allowed to touch girlie here?" The man leaned over to stroke Kairi's face, but Oogie Boogie slapped his hand away._

"_Ya touch her when I say ya touch her, no sooner no later." He eyed Sora whose eyes were blazing a ferocious yellow. "Maybe sooner."_

_Oogie Boogie had then taken a lever, snapped it out of its holding and whipped Sora across the head, knocking him unconscious. He unceremoniously tossed Kairi on top of his limp form, and had turned to his subordinates and told them he was hungry and to entertain him. They left the two alone, clearly not seeing either one as a threat._

* * *

_Kairi sighed and leaned against the stone wall._

_She was frightened. She was too weak to teleport herself, let alone teleport the two of them. She was too weak to not be frightened and to be brave instead. She cursed herself, angry for falling for the trap in the first place. How could she have thought Sora had come to see her? Wasn't she always the one who initiative in their relationship? Images of their time together went through her mind. The initiative seemed fifty-fifty to her._

_She then gasped as the sake unraveled itself from her neck, and for the first time in a long time, slithered away from her. "Leonardo!" She called out. Her restraints made it impossible for her to reach out. "Come back, it's too cold!" It paid her no heed, and with a flick of its tail, shimmied up the wall and through the barred window Sora had entered through._

_Kairi began to cry. The snake was going to die trying to save itself, the innocent animal. Sora was going to die, and Oogie Boogie was never going to let her go. She bowed her head, resting it on Sora's chest. The rise and fall of his chest was comforting. Almost as comforting as the rhythmic beat of his heart. She couldn't help but smile beneath her tears at the feeling and sound._

_She jumped when a hand grabbed her arm._

"_K … nngh… Kairi." Sora was awakening. His blue eyes were bleary, but pleasant as he took her in. He then frowned and held his head. "Oh… Oogie …" He closed his eyes and furrowed his brows. "Damn him."_

"_How are you feeling?" She asked softly. He groaned._

"_We… are we still in the lower floor?" His voice was very groggy._

"_Yes, we haven't been moved. I'm glad they haven't come back." She turned to the area that four captors had left. "I think if we're really quiet, they won't come back as quickly, cause they may think we're asleep." She somehow felt 'playing dead' would help them in the situation._

_Sora shook his head, and began to sit up, then froze. He looked down at where he had been napping and then at her. He shook his head, then sat up fully. Kairi missed the warmth only for a second. Sora positioned himself next to her, wrapping his arm around her, and pulled her close. She lay against him._

"_Leonardo left." She murmured. He regarded her in surprise, then out the window that he suspected the serpent had left through._

"_Good, he can get help." Sora said wearily._

_Kairi bit her lip. "You think that's why he left?" She honestly was not sure how aware Leonardo was of the earth around him, and of the situations that occurred, to trust him to get help from others._

_Sora nodded. "He wouldn't leave you." He smiled at her. Kairi smiled back._

"_I don't think he'd leave you, either."_

"_And I'll never leave you, doll face." Kairi and Sora both snapped their heads up as Oogie Boogie trotted up to them. "Not to interrupt this little fest of hearts and coos 'n all that jazz, but, well," he paused then snickered. "Actually, that's exactly what I want to do." He then leant down to take control of Kairi's shackles._

"_Don't you touch her," Sora sneered. Oogir Boogie regarded him as if he were as harmless as a Chihuahua._

"_Sora …" Kairi warned._

"_Oh?" Oogie Boogie smiled. "Don't touch her, you say?" He took a hold of Kairi's chains and yanked her away from Sora. She stumbled as she was half dragged. She winced against the skidding against the ground and Sora's pinching grip on her ankle. He refused to let go. _

_Kairi cringed, physically and mentally torn. Sora's grip was beginning to tear her skin, and despite him noticing, and trying to adjust his grip without losing it, the skin continued to break. Oogie Boogie was taking antagonizing steps backward to emphasize Sora's grip, and alarm the two. Kairi bit down on her lip to prevent herself from crying out; she did not want Sora to let go, no matter the pain._

"_Let … go…" The brunet said through clenched teeth._

_Oogie Boogie cocked his head to the side, and with a finalizing smirk, yanked Kairi closer, literally ripping her out of Sora's grasp. She cried out._

_The sack continued to walk away, dragging her by her arms across the floor. She stumbled to get to her feet. Her heart hammered in her chest. Shame for being dragged about like some useless object, and fear toward the unknown actions that the monster before her may commit. The walking picnic rug took her to the gambling table, hushing her to be quiet. He pulled several levers, and some chains and a steel trapeze lowered from the ceiling. He attached the hooks on her chains to the trapeze, and before she could react, he flipped the lever, and the trapeze shot up into the ceiling, jerking her into the air. She screamed as a sharp pain went into her right shoulder. It had popped out of its socket._

"_Kairi!" Sora called out._

_Oogie Boogie rolled his makeshift shoulders, sniggering at their wails. "Gotta say I was awfully bored earlier, but you guys have so much entertainment: I love it." He then turned specifically to Kairi who was attempting to move her weight to her shoulder that was not dislocated. "Dollface, how do you feel about gambling games?"_

_Kairi ignored him, still trying to adjust herself. Oogie Boogie frowned. He did not like being ignored. "Dollface, I'm a'talkin' to you." He reached up and yanked on the same leg that Sora had been clawing at earlier. She hissed in pain. "I was askin' you a question."_

_She shuddered._

"_Hmph," Oogie Boogie pouted. "Shall I … heat things up a bit?" He giggled at his timed pun: he had skipped over to another set of levers and adjusted their positions. A loud creaking noise sounded below Kairi, and the machine below her swiveled its gears, revealing an acidic liquid that sizzled in reaction to the oxygen. She began to sweat further, awkwardly struggling, not knowing where to put her attention._

"_Sora," Oogie Boogie drawled. "I don't like that look you're giving me." Kairi snuck a glance at the demon._

_Sora was sprawled across the floor, despite no longer twitching and squirming in his restraints, his limbs were tensed. His wrists were shaking, and Kairi realized that they were bleeding from all of his thrashing. His chest was heaving with adrenaline. He bowed his head and rolled his shoulders back. His chest swelled again as he inhaled deeply._

_Kairi shrieked as her chain slackened and dropped so that she was only a yard above the acid._

"_RAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Tensed fists strained against the metal cuffs, no matter the cutting on the skin. He leapt to his feet and ran as far forward as the chains would let him, and yelled again. He repeated the motion, again, and again. He needed to get to Kairi. She was not about to die. In his frantic movements he did not notice that Shock's weakening spell had ebbed away._

_Oogie Boogie took a nervous step back. "Oh no … Shock! Where are you? Why is he strengthenin'?" He looked around wildly, but no one came. "Lock! Barrel! Get down here!" Still nothing. He shook his head wildly and in an awkward stance to make sure his back was not turned to the boy, he situated his hands on the array of levers. "Boy, you come at me, she's dead." To emphasize his point, he slowly pressed the same lever as earlier, and she was lowered to a foot above. She struggled to bend her legs, and tried swinging. She wanted to get away, but the instant she the chain swung, her wrists that she was hanging from cried out, and her shoulder screamed in pain. She gasped, only then noticing the coat of sweat that had built up on her._

_Sora did not hesitate in his struggles, if anything, they only intensified._

"_I-I'm warning you." Three inches were lost. A resounding snap of metal and rock sounded as some of the attachments broke from the wall. "No qualms about losing these legs." Her legs swung, her left shoe slipping off her foot and splashed a few droplets on her skin. She hissed in pain._

"_Sora!"_

_With a resounding clatter the chains were freed from the wall and Sora shot off from the wall, wings flapping spastically. With another clink, the chain that had a hold of Kairi snapped, Kairi in Sora's arms. She draped her good arm around his neck and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Snarling he perched himself high up on the wall where Oogie Boogie couldn't reach them._

_The sack's shouts were ignored. Sora was more interested in checking the amount of damage Kairi had taken, and just what the severity was. Whereas Kairi was trying to coax Sora to stop and leave. "Please, Sora, the window is across the room, let's go." He made no inclination that he had heard her, but instead had dipped his head to her wrists and began lapping up the blood. She cringed. His saliva had the slightest sting, and if he weren't Sora, she would have pulled away. She assumed his saliva had some sort of healing component._

_In actuality, his saliva did not have any sort of healing component, the boy just happened to be half vampire, and therefore was not letting any blood go to waste. In the back of the sane part of his mind, he reasoned that it was the perfect chance to see if she really was human as he had wanted to check long ago. And although she would not be healed, the wounds would be numbed (much like vampire bats)._

"_Sora, please," Kairi's breath hitched as he sniffed at her collar bone. No blood, just some funky bone action. "Before that … loon does something." She shuddered into him. "We don't know what's happened to the other three, but they could show up at any minute." Sora bowed his head down to her legs, giving swift licks to the gashes where the acidic liquid had splashed her. He then sat up fully, and for good measure licked her cheek. She scrunched her nose, but made no verbal comment. They really need to leave…_

_He then extended his wings, and took her into his arms once more after wrapping their chains around his shoulder._

"_Oy! Where do ya two think you're headed?" Oogie Boogie demanded, shaking a fist at them. Sora paused in his flight, and regarded the checkered man. Despite Kairi's protests, he lowered himself and swiftly kicked the figure in the head. Oogie Boogie had the wind knocked out of him._

"_Okay, let's go now!" Kairi pleaded. Sora grunted and began to raise his altitude._

"_I don't think so!" A chain shot out and wrapped itself around Sora's ankle. The additional weight of Oogie Boogie pulled Sora down. Realizing that pulling away was not an option, he swerved about, snarling at the offender. With extended claws he slashed through the chest of Oogie Boogie. Kairi began to scream at the sight of the screaming insects._

"_Kairi!"_

"_Sora!"_

_The two teens looked up to see Saint Nicholas and Jack Skellington running hurriedly towards them. They looked a little worse for wear, but besides that, were fine. It occurred to Kairi that they must have been the ones holding up the trio, she only wished that they would have gotten here sooner. Sora seemed to be of similar mind, for once he saw and recognized that they were safe, he collapsed to his knees and fell unconscious. Yet as the adults swarmed around them and unchained them, he refused to let Kairi out of his grasp._

_They were then taken to Jack Skellington's home to get some medical help. Sora and Kairi were situated in Sora's room, and the two were going to stay there until either Sora awoke or Kairi's grandfather decided to whisk her away. Normally she would have expected him to send her home sooner, but the older man seemed to have been humbled by his misjudgment and misunderstanding of the skeletal man. The Pumpkin King was of similar mind._

Sora had yet to wake up, so Kairi was just killing time. Or more so, she was avoiding going down to the main hall of the house. Not only was it immensely creepy, but the adults were still shouting downstairs. And arguing. Over something as trivial as who was more apologetic. She rolled her eyes, continuing to stroke Sora's head. It was times when she was stuck listening to her grandfather make a fool of himself that she felt that she really did not want to grow up.

Sora moaned beneath her touch. Her hand shied away. It occurred to her for the first time that Sora was going to wake up his head on her lap. And he was shirtless to make room for bandages. And she was just in a borrowed, oversized shirt. Sally had said he wouldn't mind. She said he would want her to be comfortable and out of her bloodied clothes. She had also said that he would be more than happy to wake up to her presence.

Naturally Kairi was more than happy to hear this originally, but once she realized he was going to be waking up, and she was in his room, and she was not really dressed, and he was not really dressed, she couldn't help but worry. Not in the stomach dropping teeth chattering sort of worry, but the heart hammering cheeks blushing sort of worry. The one that was more associated with situations where two parties were rather fond of one another. Such as the one she was in at the moment.

Sora yawned widely, first dropping his jaw, then pulling back his lips to reveal his canines, and then his tongue peaked out before his mouth closed again. At times Kairi found him to be a lot more catlike than batlike. His eyes then crinkled a bit before they opened again, and she was treated to the vision of his dark blue eyes. They were hazy, a bit watery from being asleep. He lifted up on fist to rub his eyes, then blinked several times.

"Mmm … Kairi…" He then lifted up his hands, held her head, guided her face to his own, and kissed her.

…_Wait, what?!_

It took a full second for Sora's eyes to pop wide open, and then an eighth of a second after that to realize just what he was doing. He rolled away from Kairi, sputtering and blushing like he had just landed in a boiling pot of water. He had his head bowed, not daring to look at Kairi, entirely fearful of her rejection.

Kairi resembled something of a howler monkey that had been muted and had been petrified in the middle of screaming.

The room was filled with loud silence.

Kairi was the first who dared to utter a noise. "Ah … S-Sora…?"

"I-I'm sorry Kairi!" He wailed. "I… I…" What had come over him? He kept replaying over and over in his mind his incoherent thoughts that came to him as he came into the world of consciousness. He felt warm, and despite a slight quirk in his neck, was very comfortable. Especially with a refreshing, comforting aroma: the scents of home, his bedroom wafting around him, with a tint of Kairi. He had never had the two smells combined before, but he had found that he liked it. And then he remembered opening his eyes, and as if he were peering through fuzzy lenses, saw Kairi, and felt a wave of relief wash over him. She had been so frightened earlier, and he simply wanted to … kiss her?

"It's, um, it's okay." Kairi murmured, still bright red. She did not want him to say something about mistakes. Especially toward her first kiss. "I, um, uh, if it wasn't an accident, I'll forgive you." The last part her voice lowered considerably.

"Oh." Sora's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "Well, um, okay, then." Of course he wouldn't want to offend her, and he supposed if she wanted to look at it from that angle, he definitely _wanted _to kiss her. He warily crept closer to his bed, closer to her, for the first time noticing her attire. He rather liked it, but he supposed that moment would not be the best time to voice his thoughts.

"…Did you reopen any wounds?" Kairi asked timidly. Sora paused in his creeping for a moment, and looked down. It wasn't until she had said something that he was aware of the pain in his body. But no new blood was seeping through the bandages, just some ooze here or there.

"No." He situated himself next to her, mirroring her folded hands in her lap. He very much wanted to hold her in his arms, but he wasn't really sure what the story was at the moment. He was debating if he was given a green light or not. He certainly couldn't tell. She then leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed.

Sora decided an arm draped over the shoulder would be acceptable.

Kairi snuggled further into him. He was warm.

He tilted his head on top of hers. Then lifted his head off after a moment. Her warm breath was tickling his neck. And he very much wanted to smother her with love, and not just the verbal or mental kind. And as good as his sense of smell was, he couldn't smell her obvious openness to his presence, since he was so caught up in his own doubts.

And he would have continued in his thoughts of doubt, if it weren't for dear old Leonardo, who had slithered out and away from Kairi's neck onto her lap, and onto the floor, near the radiator. Sora had watched the snake make its way over to its new napping place. He had vaguely wondered why it was leaving the two of them, when they were clearly warmer than the radiator, when the snake cocked its head toward him, and gave him a look that indicated the snake was the very opposite of a cockblocker, and that if he was going to make a movie, then and there would be the time.

Cause who knew how Jack and Nick would react when they realized they had created the perfect Romeo and Juliet setup. Without the dying piece. And if things were to turn south, there were numerous numbers of holiday towns to live in.

Screw tradition.

Sora cocked his head over to Kairi, first nibbling on her ear. She bent her head toward him, raising one of her shoulders as a reaction. And then she squealed slightly when he kissed the side of her mouth. She was silenced when he captured her second kiss.

Of course, the two men that ran their two separate holidays were completely unaware of the occurring events happening in the upstairs room. And perhaps if they were aware, they would not have acted nearly as friendly as they currently were. They would have most likely objected because they were too young in their minds, and had way too much of a responsibility toward their holidays.

Sora Daemon was to be the future Pumpkin King; that had already been decided. Kairi Claus was still a bit of a mystery, but there was no doubt that her path lay in the hands of Christmas Town. The two had their duty to millions of children everywhere, as well as their friends and family.

But that was not their main concern at the moment.

Nor would it be their main concern in six years, on their wedding day.

It would not be a concern in eight years, either, when their first child would be born.

The two holidays were going to have to sort themselves out because of the two love struck beings.

Leonardo flicked his tail with an attitude that almost resembled a smirk.

If only Kairi had never been allowed to keep the damn snake.

***********

**A/N(edit):Okay, this chapter did not go how I intended at all. Originally wanted this to go another two chapters, but then I ended up with this. So I'm probably only going to have one more chapter, or will just end it here. I dunno. I'm happy with what I've written, but I feel I rushed it at the end, cause I really wanted to post and all that. Meh, whatever.**

**Well I hope you enjoyed that, and I'd recommend reading/rereading the other chapters if you didn't catch up top that I made edits throughout.**

**You've been a lovely audience.**

**And now for some good R & R**


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